OSCE supports torture prevention in Kyrgyzstan
As part of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek’s support to the co-operation between state bodies, human rights organizations and the international community in addressing torture prevention in places of detention, the Centre, the Ombudsman, relevant governmental institutions of the Kyrgyz Republic and civil society organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 17 December 2012 in Bishkek.
The aim of the Memorandum, signed by the Ombudsman, the Prosecutor General, the head of the State Penitentiary Service, the Ministers of Interior, Justice, Health and 12 representatives of local civil society organizations is to foster co-operation between state bodies, human rights organizations and the international community in addressing torture prevention through unannounced monitoring visits to places of detention around the country.
A similar Memorandum of Understanding was signed in June 2012, The work under the new Memorandum will be based on the monitoring work carried out so far. A comprehensive monitoring report covering for 2012 was presented and discussed at the event.
Ambassador Sergey Kapinos, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, said: “The OSCE Centre in Bishkek supports the authorities of Kyrgyzstan in their efforts to improve respect for human rights in places of detention and to eradicate torture.”
“The OSCE Centre promotes the endorsement of human rights mechanisms in detention, including detention monitoring, which looks at all stages in the process of delivering justice, and thereby links up the Centre’s efforts on providing legal advice to defendants, assistance to victims of torture and monitoring of trials.”
Erkinbek Alymbekov, the Chairperson of the Committee of the Parliament on Human Rights, said: “Presence of all stakeholders at the roundtable event proves our intention to make the Memorandum an efficient instrument for combating torture.”
The Health Minister of Kyrgyzstan Dinara Saginbaeva highlighted that “this document would be very helpful also to the medical staff”, and stressed the importance of the fact that under the Memorandum the authorities would work in co-ordination with the Ombudsman’s Office, the Parliament, the General Prosecutor’s Office, civil society and other national and international partners.
The Memorandum will remain in force until the end of 2013 with the possibility of being extended next year.