Meeting on humanitarian operations «Zhusan» and «Rusafa»
On October 26th Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to United Nations Office in Geneva convened a meeting on humanitarian operationы «Zhusan» and «Rusafa» on repatriating and rehabilitating individuals from Iraq and Syria. The meeting was attended by Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism Ms, Fionualla Aolain, member states of UN office in Geneva and representatives of a number of international organizations and entities.
The speakers of the meeting included E.Esbergenov the representative of the Committee on religious Affairs of the Ministry of Information and social development and A. Shaumetov director of NGO “Akniet” an organization involved in rehabilitation of returnees in Kazakhstan and Khaled Khozer the Executive director of The Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund.
In her speech Ms. Aolain emphasized three main points. First is the importance of the groundwork undertaken by Kazakhstan to prepare the general public to welcome the returnees back home. Second, she emphasized the optimization of resources that played a key role in making this operation a success involving cooperating and leveraging relationships with key partners and other stakeholders internationally and domestically. She also emphasized the extensive and well thought out plan of the government for returnees, providing them employment opportunities and also focusing on psycho social needs of people.
She also recalled her visit to Kazakhstan in 2019 and said that it was one of the best illustrations of constructive dialogue and cooperation between States and UN the Special Procedures system. She thanked the government of Kazakhstan for cooperation and granting access to them. Special rapporteur commended and acknowledge the openness of Kazakhstan on a whole range of issues that her mandate dealt with during her country visit.
During the meeting, the keynote speakers shared with the UN member states the updates on the lives of repatriated individuals and the effectiveness of the work on deradicalization of returnees. In particular, an organization primarily involved with rehabilitation noted that many women acquired new skills, pursued small business ventures and successfully adapted to normal life. He emphasized the importance of psychological and social counseling as well as legal counseling provided to returnees and underscored the importance of the role of families of returnees to their subsequent successful rehabilitation.
Executive director of The Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund Khalid Khoser indicated willingness of his organization to cooperate with Kazakhstan on this subject. Participants emphasized the importance of the humanitarian aspect of the operation and the necessity to share good practices of countries.
The meeting enabled Kazakhstan to share its best practice related to humanitarian operations "Zhusan" and "Rusafa", as well as to discuss opportunities for possible collaboration within UN and other international organizations on this subject in the future.