Regional workshop for representatives of civil society and the Office of the Ombudsman in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan

From May 18 to 21, 2021, a cross-regional seminar was launched for representatives of the Institute of the Commissioner for Human Rights and non-governmental organizations, participants of the national preventive mechanism in Kazakhstan and the Central Asian States.

Today, the National Preventive Mechanism of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the Prevention of Torture and Ill-treatment, which is a kind of public control under the coordination of the Kazakh Commissioner for Human Rights, includes 105 citizens. Many of them are doctors, practicing lawyers, mediators, teachers, social workers, as well as members of public organizations. Their task is to conduct monitoring in institutions where citizens are detained, arrested, or serving sentences, as well as social institutions where citizens who find themselves in difficult life situations are staying, primarily children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The task of public monitoring is to independently assess the observance of human rights in these institutions by national legislation and accepted international obligations for the protection of human rights.

The workshop participants were presented with Tools for monitoring closed institutions, adapted to the Rules of Nelson Mandela and the European Prison Rules.

Representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are updating their skills in working with vulnerable groups in closed institutions.

The event is part of the PRI project "Strengthening the Rule of Law in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan", funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF).

In detail: https://www.facebook.com/PenalReformCA/