A Zoom meeting was held with the Asia-Pacific Forum on the upcoming capacity assessment of the Ombudsman's Office

Ombudsman Artur LASTAYEV held a consultation with representatives of the Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) as well as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

The reason for the meeting was to discuss a set of measures for planning the upcoming capacity assessment of the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights.

The experts made a presentation on forthcoming joint work and gave relevant recommendations.

The evaluation will be organized by APF with the assistance of OHCHR and UNDP within the framework of the Global Principles on Capacity Assessment of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs).

The purpose of the assessment is to provide a thorough analysis of the strengths and capacity gaps of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Through research, interviews and debriefing, capacity assessment experts will examine the powers and functions of the Office of the Ombudsman, its capacity, and consideration of additional measures to strengthen it.

The mission will submit a report with recommendations for strategic priorities and actions to the Office of the Ombudsman for consideration.

In general, the project is aimed at improving the system of protection, promotion and realization of human rights in Kazakhstan through reforming the national legislation in accordance with Kazakhstan's international human rights obligations, as well as increasing the institutional capacity of the Office of the Ombudsman.

The analysis, in turn, will make it possible to develop proposals for strategic priorities and actions within the implementation of the Ombudsman's mandate to better promote and protect human rights in accordance with the UN endorsed Paris Principles.

At the end of the meeting, partners from APF, UNDP and OHCHR outlined tentative dates for the upcoming assessment and welcomed the intention of the Ombudsman Artur Lastayev to conduct the assessment in the first half of the year.