E/C.12/UZB/CO/1 page 6 49. The Committee encourages the State party to ensure that the minimum wage enables workers and their families to enjoy an adequate standard of living and that the minimum wage standard is thoroughly enforced. The Committee further encourages the State party to establish an effective system of indexation and regular adjustment of the minimum wage to the cost of living. 50. The State party is urged to take all necessary measures to ensure the protection of minors against economic and social exploitation and to enable them to fully enjoy their right to education and an adequate standard of living. The Committee strongly recommends that the State party consider ratifying ILO Convention No. 182 (1999) concerning the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. 51. The Committee recommends that the State party provide labour inspections with adequate human and financial resources, to enable them to effectively combat abuses of workers’ rights. 52. The Committee encourages the State party to take measures to enable the development of independent trade unions that are better able to defend their members’ interests. In this regard, the Committee strongly encourages the State party “to adopt national legislation on a procedure for settling collective labour disputes concerning the introduction of new, or the alteration of the existing, working conditions” (State party’s report, para. 176). 53. The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen the role of pensions as a safety net for pensioners living alone and for those who have no other source of income, by increasing minimum State social insurance pension amounts. The Committee also recommends that the State party increase personal coverage of unemployment benefits. The State party is also encouraged to undertake periodic review of the amounts of both pensions and unemployment benefits to bring them in line with the cost of living. 54. The Committee calls upon the State party to ensure that targeted social assistance depending on family income is guaranteed to all disadvantaged and marginalized persons and families, and that such assistance does not fall below the subsistence level. It also requests the State party to ensure that those responsible for social assistance payments comply with criteria of equal treatment and transparency. 55. The Committee encourages the State party to adopt specific legislation on domestic violence, and to consider domestic violence as a criminal offence. The Committee further encourages the State party to promote information campaigns in order to increase public awareness, and to take all necessary measures to protect victims of domestic violence, including through sensitization of law-enforcement officials and the judiciary to the rights and needs of victims, and the establishment of counselling services and temporary shelters. 56. The Committee urges the State party to criminalize trafficking in persons, and to continue to take other measures to combat this phenomenon, including through sensitization of law-enforcement officials and the judiciary to the rights and needs of victims, and the provision of medical, psychological and legal support for victims. The Committee further requests the State party to provide, in its next periodic report, statistics disaggregated by age, gender, and ethnic group, on trafficking in persons.