Role of female police officers in focus at OSCE Centre in Bishkek-supported international training-conference
BISHKEK, 3 March 2016 – The role of women police in the modern world and in Kyrgyzstan is the focus of a two-day international training-conference co-organized by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek to mark five years of the establishment of the Kyrgyz Association of Women Police and its membership of the International Association of Women Police.
Former President of Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbayeva, President of the Women Forum of the Kyrgyz Parliament Ainuru Altybaeva, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Mira Karybaeva as well as representatives of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Interior, women’s police associations in South-east Europe, international organizations, civil society and media participated at the event.
“The event confirms that it is crucial to actively promote the qualitative and quantitative representation of women in the Kyrgyz police and I believe that the key role in this matter should be played by the Kyrgyz Association of Women Police,” said Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek Sergey Kapinos in his opening speech.
Conference participants discussed the current situation of women’s representation in police. Separately, more than 100 conference participants took part in a series of training sessions on women's leadership in law enforcement; gender politics of the Interior Ministry; mentoring as a tool for promoting gender equality, and ethnic representation in the police.
Altybaeva said the conference “has given us a great opportunity to involve the Kyrgyz Association of Women Police in developing a new law on police, which has been initiated by the Women Forum of the Kyrgyz Parliament. We believe that gender-sensitive approaches and equal rights and opportunities are to be the cornerstone of the new law.”
Kaana Aidarkul, the President of the Association of Women Police in Kyrgyzstan, noted that as a result of the training-conference, the Strategic Plan for Development of the Kyrgyz Association of Women Police will be developed.
The event was organized in co-operation with the Kyrgyz Association of Women Police, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), UNDP and the Peacebuilding Foundation in Bishkek.