OSCE Centre in Bishkek

The OSCE Centre in Bishkek, with the assistance of its Field Office in Osh, covers a broad range of human rights and rule of law issues, including legal and penitentiary reform, humanization of criminal legislation, promotion of free and fair elections, gender equality, combating trafficking in human beings and confidence-building between the Kyrgyz authorities and civil society, particularly in relation to law enforcement bodies.

The Centre collaborates with government agencies, in particular the Ministry of Justice and the Interior Ministry, local human rights organizations, and international organizations, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Penal Reform International, and the Soros Foundation.

It also co-operates with the Warsaw-based OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on reform of criminal legislation, election reform, public monitoring of court trials and detention facilities, gender activities, and combating trafficking in human beings.

The Centre carries out projects in the following areas:

Legal and institutional reform

• Assisting in the implementation of results of the constitutional reform, i.e. bringing national legislation into conformity with the Constitution of 23 October 2007;
• Facilitating electoral reform, in particular further improvement of the electoral legislation and the mechanisms of its application, and strengthening the observation skills of local NGOs;
• Assisting in implementation of the law on humanization of criminal legislation, which stipulates the abolishment of the death penalty, reducing terms of imprisonment and introducing alternative punishments;
• Supporting reform of the penitentiary system, in particular implementation of the "UMUT" National Programme for Penitentiary System Reform, which runs until 2010, providing international expertise, capacity-building of prison personnel through assistance to the Training Centre under the Prison Administration and providing technical support, improvement of treatment and promotion human rights protection in penitentiary institutions; and
• Assisting in awareness-raising about international human rights and rule of law standards and capacity building of judges and prosecutors through the support of the Training Centre of the General Prosecutor's Office, publication of the Supreme Court's information bulletin and providing technical assistance to local courts.

Promotion of human rights and rule of law

• Advocating protection of human rights through assistance to local human rights organizations and enhancing the theoretical and practical skills of defence lawyers and NGO staff on international human rights standards and the mechanisms of their application;
• Promoting public monitoring of detention facilities and providing technical support for the renovation of detention facilities;
• Supporting public monitoring of court room practice; and
• Facilitating free legal aid to the low-income population, detainees, and victims of torture throughout the country.

Combating trafficking in human beings

• Providing assistance to the Kyrgyz authorities on the drafting of the new state programme on combating trafficking in human beings (THB);
• Capacity-building of the Kyrgyz law-enforcement bodies to fight THB;
• Promoting coordination and partnership between State bodies and local NGOs in addressing THB cases;
• Supporting networking among NGOs working on THB; and
• Awareness-raising and educational campaign activities, aimed at prevention of THB.

Promoting gender equality

• Promoting women's participation in the political process and decision-making bodies;
• Supporting prevention of domestic violence and rehabilitation of victims of such violence.