Promoting internationally recognized human rights standards through education and capacity building of national and local authorities and the civil society institutions are among the main priorities of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek in the Human Dimension.

The Centre promotes dialogue and co-operation between authorities, law enforcement bodies, civil society and the general public on human rights-related issues. Its rule of law activities include capacity-building for defence, judges and prosecutors, provision of free legal aid and trial monitoring.

Together with its Field Office in Osh, the Centre in Bishkek deals with a broad range of issues including human rights protection and promotion, supporting legal, institutional and penitentiary reform processes, promoting the rule of law, fostering gender equality, combating trafficking in human beings, promoting confidence building and partnership between the civil society and the Kyrgyz authorities, in particular with the law-enforcement bodies.

Our partners are government agencies, non-government institutions and international organizations such as the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, European Commission, the Council of Europe's Venice Commission, International Foundation for Election Systems, International Republican Institute, National Democratic Institute, Soros Foundation, and Penal Reform International.

The Centre also co-operates with the Warsaw-based OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) on election reform, the public monitoring of court trials and detention facilities, legal reform, human rights defenders capacity-building, gender equality and anti-trafficking in human beings.

The Centre activities are clustered around the following themes:

Promotion of human rights

• supporting the awareness raising and training of judges, prosecutors, police and courts personnel on human rights and rule of law;
• facilitating monitoring of high profile terrorist and extremist trials in the South of the country and training on human rights and antiterrorism;
• assisting in human rights monitoring and improvement of detention conditions in police custodies and pre-trial detention facilities;
• contributing to the establishment of the National Prevention Mechanism in accordance with the Optional Protocol to UN Convention against torture (OPCAT);
• assisting in making free legal aid more accessible for vulnerable groups, including victims of torture, particularly in rural areas.

Legal and institutional reform

• supporting the bringing of the national legislation in line with the OSCE and other international commitments, in particular through facilitating expert legal opinion and encouraging the implementation of expert advice on legislation;
• promoting democratic elections, in particular voter education, capacity building of electoral authorities, enhancing the observation skills of local NGOs and implementation of OSCE/ODIHR recommendations;
• enhancing theoretical and practical skills of defence lawyers and NGO jurists on international human rights standards and facilitating application of these standards in domestic courts;
• contributing to the Government's endeavour to reform the penitentiary system;
• supporting the implementation of recent laws in the areas of humanization of criminal justice and the judiciary reform through trainings for judges and prosecutors, publication of bulletin of the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic
• assisting in building the capacity of local NGOs on independent monitoring of court trials and places of detention.

Promoting gender equality and fighting trafficking in human beings

• supporting the nation-wide awareness-raising campaigns to promote strong female representation in national and local authorities and greater women's participation in public life;
• assisting in the implementation of the National Action Plan on gender equality for 2007-2010
• supporting training for the local city councils and executive structures of Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken provinces on introducing a gender perspective into budget analysis and planning;
• addressing bride kidnapping and domestic violence by supporting information campaigning and victim refuges;
• contributing to the implementation of the State Programme of the Kyrgyz Republic on combating trafficking in human beings for 2008-2010;
• assisting in reviewing and developing the national legislation on fight against trafficking in human beings;
• supporting capacity building of local state authorities in preventing human trafficking on community levels, and promoting awareness of trafficking risks among youth;
• assisting in capacity building of law enforcement bodies to combat human trafficking;
• facilitating co-ordination between civil society, law-enforcement structures and local authorities on combating human trafficking in the South of Kyrgyzstan.