OSCE Centre holds seminar on human rights for police officers in Southern Kyrgyzstan

JALAL-ABAD, Kyrgyzstan, 28 September 2009 - An OSCE-supported two-day seminar that aims to prevent inhuman treatment and interpersonal conflicts when people are in police custody started today in the village of Arslanbob in the Jalal-Abad province.

The seminar promotes co-operation between local police and human rights organizations to improve the conditions and treatment of detainees.

The seminar is organized by the local non-governmental organization Spravedlivost with the support of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek's field office in Osh. Russian experts on human rights and psychology will lead sessions at the seminar, which focuses on topics such as the role of police in a democratic society, and the prevention of torture, human abuse and intimidation, as well as conflict resolution in police custody.

"We support this seminar because the provincial police departments and human rights civil society organizations expressed strong interest. Our joint efforts aim to improve general conditions in police custody and to improve independent public monitoring mechanisms," said Dimitri Manjavidze, Human Dimension Officer of the OSCE Centre's Field Office in Osh.

Valentina Gricenko, the head of Spravedlivost, added: "Similar seminars conducted in other CIS countries by a psychologist and an expert on human rights in policing proved useful, led to immediate results and were highly appreciated by participants. We hope it will be valuable for Kyrgyzstan in the same way. We expect that our joint seminar will boost co-operation between the police and human rights defender organizations in south Kyrgyzstan."

The course is part of OSCE Centre's programme to support Kyrgyz penitentiary system reform and promote human rights awareness in the southern provinces.