E/C.12/UZB/CO/2 Non-discrimination and equality 9. The Committee is concerned that national legislation does not provide full protection against discrimination on all the grounds prohibited by the Covenant. It is also concerned about the absence of legislative and policy frameworks for the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities and nomadic people, and about the implications of the compulsory residence registration (“propiska”) for access to employment, housing and health care by internal migrants. It is further concerned that stateless persons and refugees residing in the State party reportedly lack access to basic economic and social rights, including health care, education and legal employment (art. 2 (2)). The Committee requests the State party to: (a) Ensure that its laws effectively prohibit and provide appropriate mechanisms to protect against discrimination in all fields of economic, social and cultural rights, in line with the Covenant provisions, and that effective administrative and judicial remedies are available in cases of discrimination; (b) Adopt legislative and policy frameworks to ensure the full enjoyment of the Covenant rights without discrimination by all persons residing on its territory, irrespective of their ethnic and national background, in line with the Committee’s general comment No. 20 (2009) on non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights; (c) Take effective measures to ensure that a propiska does not limit access to economic, social and cultural rights and consider experience of States that have replaced the propiska system with systems which comply with international standards in the area of freedom of movement; (d) Take practical steps, including through legislative measures as appropriate, to ensure that stateless persons and refugees enjoy economic, social and cultural rights, including access to legal employment, health care and education; (e) Accede to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 and the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees of 1967, as well as to the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons of 1954 and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961. Persons with disabilities 10. The Committee is concerned that the employment rate among persons with disabilities is very low, despite the measures taken to stimulate their employment, and that physical barriers may obstruct their access to social services, the labour market and education. It is also concerned about the lack of trained staff in schools and inadequate school curricula (arts. 2 (2), 6 and 13). The Committee recommends that the State party enhance its efforts to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy unhindered access to all social services, including schools, and employment, including by providing reasonable accommodation at school and in the workplace. It also recommends that the State party ratify as a matter of priority the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities signed in 2009. Gender equality 11. The Committee is concerned that the draft law on equal rights and opportunities for women and men has not yet been adopted and that women remain underrepresented in the State administration, the judiciary, the executive and local authorities, especially in highlevel positions. In that regard, the Committee notes with concern that entrenched gender- 4