OSCE and partners support public discussion of Kyrgyz criminal and justice reform
BISHKEK, 20 April 2015 – A two-day roundtable to discuss draft laws on the Criminal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, Civil Procedure Code, Penal-Executive Code, Code on Offences, as well as legislative acts on increasing the responsibility of judges, and legislative acts on bailiffs and others is being held on 20-21 April 2015 in Bishkek.
The roundtable is aimed at informing the public about reforms in the judicial system and to obtain proposals from all stakeholders who initiated amendments and regulations. The roundtable was jointly initiated by four parliamentary committees that are currently reviewing the relevant draft legislation.
Representatives of the Presidential Administration, the Kyrgyz Parliament, Ministries of Interior, Justice, and Finance, the Supreme Court, lawyers, law enforcement agencies, civil society and an OSCE-supported international expert from Kazakhstan will contribute to the debate. An independent judiciary and the right to a fair trial are enshrined in OSCE commitments, and the OSCE Centre, in line with its mandate, has been supporting the national authorities in this area. A similar roundtable was conducted in Osh city on 13-14 April 2015.
The new versions of these key legislative acts were developed by multiple working groups that have been set up under the Presidential degree No. 147 in 2012 which launched a new phase in judicial and criminal justice reform in Kyrgyzstan.
The working groups are supported by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek in close co-operation with partners such as the Regional Office of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Central Asia, the EU-UNDP new legal framework project, the German Society for International Co-operation, United Nations Office for Drug and Crime in Bishkek, UN Women and the Soros Foundation.