by Dildora Karimova, Lecturer in Law at Westminster International University in Tashkent
This year our secondment was conducted in Riga between July 1 and September 9, 2022 and Riga Graduate School of Law (RGSL) was our host.
RGSL welcomed us warmly. We were given a room in the University with all the equipment and speedy internet connection.
RGSL staff, Kriss Elerts, Ieva Racenaja, Krista Paula Petere, Waleed Gumaa and others were very friendly and helpful in showing around and giving access to the facilities. We are very grateful for their assistance and constant support.
Research
RGSL Library was very resourceful and I could benefit not only from available hard copies but also from University’s subscriptions to various databases, such as Oxford University Press, HeinOnline, Lexis Nexis, etc. Thus, I could enhance my literature review and enrich my research with sources that I could not have accessed otherwise.
My research is centered around the introduction of additional mode of criminal liability as a tool for combatting corruption in Uzbekistan and being in Latvia, a country with Soviet background like Uzbekistan, allowed me to understand the difference in the society especially in terms of petit corruption.
I could vividly see that application of the same legal norms depends on the social codes and values so much, that even countries with common historical roots but different cultures can achieve distinct results. For example, when my older daughter (7 y.o.) got tonsillitis and we had to be admitted to the E.R. of the Children’s Hospital in Riga, I could witness, that people do not even think and it does not cross their minds to specially “thank” the doctor or doctors do not linger around patients after consulting them to imply any expectations of improper renumerations, nobody is trying to jump the line, despite a very long waiting time (up to 3 hours), and most of the paperwork is done openly by the nurses in the common hall. The whole atmosphere was filled with the feeling of confidence, equality and professionalism. This unfortunate incident, ironically, demonstrated how different is experience of medical services in Uzbekistan and in Latvia, countries with Soviet background, with and without of involvement of petit corruption.
Since our secondment was during the summertime, I could not reach many professionals, however, I still hope to contact them online soon.
Lund
Our secondment started from visiting Lund, a small, cozy and a very green Swedish city to attend the workshops. The “Shadow Economy, Business Environment and Legal Culture in Central Asia” Project Workshop organized by the Lund University were quite informative and useful, especially for young researchers like myself. I believe, that gathering all the participants of the Project in one place was an amazing idea in terms of networking, exchanging opinions and gaining confidence in the fact that we are altogether in this Project despite living thousands of kilometers apart.
Picture 2 Welcoming card and stuffed animals from the Lund University Guesthouse
Our sessions were delivered by very experienced researchers and personally for me it was an eye opener, since pure legal research is quite limited in methods and conservative. I have learned not only, how to use new research methods, but also how to overcome various barriers and obstacles that might arise while gathering information. Our lecturers provided numerous examples from their own experience of how certain research methods can dramatically influence the quality of the work. These sessions filled me with confidence and inspired me with new ideas regarding my research. I am very thankful to our lecturers Dr. Erhan Dogan, Dr. Meltem Sancak, Dr. Peter Finke, Dr. Werner Hertzog, Dilaver Khamzaev for their useful insights.
We had a chance to communicate not only during the research methods sessions, but also experience Swedish Fika altogether; breakfasts, coffee-breaks, lunches and dinners together contributed not only in gained kilograms but also in building new networks and friendships with colleagues from around the Europe and Asia.
We returned to Riga inspired to research and full of creative ideas.
Using this opportunity, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Lund University team: Rustamjon aka Urinboev, Chekhros Kilichova, Dilaver Khamzaev, Sherzod aka Eraliev, and Elmurod Sobirov for the perfectly organized workshops and Fikas 🙂 .
Happy Research to my colleagues from all over Asia and Europe!