OSCE Programme Office in Astana supports study visit to Warsaw for Ombudsman’s Office representatives

From 10 to 14 August 2018 the OSCE Programme Office in Astana and the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Poland co-organized a study visit to Warsaw for four representatives of the National Centre for Human Rights (Ombudsman’s Office).

Head of the National Centre for Human Rights Serik Ospanov led the delegation which studied effective tools and best practices in handling citizens’ complaints submitted to the Ombudsperson institution in Poland.

The Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Poland, Hannah Makhińska, presented information on the mandate, duties, legal framework, working principles, as well as existing challenges in her institution’s activities. Participants exchanged experiences with their counterparts from the Department for the National Preventive Mechanism and Department for Equal Treatment. They discussed issues of countering torture and ill-treatment, discrimination and hate speech.

The delegation also met with representatives of the Foreign Ministry, members of the Polish Sejm (lower chamber of parliament), academia and non-governmental organizations, including the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.

In order to get acquainted with the National Preventive Mechanism against torture activities in Poland, the delegation of Kazakhstan participated in a monitoring visit to a detention facility in Warszawa-Białołęka. Senior representatives of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) met with the delegation to discuss issues of legislative development of National Human Rights Institutions, gender and diversity mainstreaming in the OSCE participating States on the last day of the visit.

The study visit is part of the Programme Office’s long-standing activities to support national human rights institutions in the host country.