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OSCE commends Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on penal systems reform
DUSHANBE 14 October 2002
DUSHANBE, 14 October 2002 - OSCE experts have commended Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for deciding to transfer their prison systems from their respective Ministries of Interior to their Justice Ministries.
"This decisive step will give both countries more self-confidence in their future endeavours", said Ambassador Marc Gilbert, Head of the OSCE Mission to Tajikistan, at an international conference in Dushanbe. "It is an important step in moving closer to fulfilling international standards", he added.
The conference on 10 and 11 October was jointly organized by the Mission, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the Ministries of Justice and Interior of Tajikistan, with the support of Penal Reform International and the Swiss Development Co-operation office.
"We are very much obliged to the OSCE in starting this reform. It is a new direction for us and we are ready to learn from the world's experience", said Fayzullo Abdulloev, First Deputy Minister of Justice of Tajikistan. "Investigation and punishment cannot be in one single institution. It is of particular importance for the respect of human rights".
Participants discussed effective actions to be taken and the possible consequences of the transfer, including legislative changes, financial implications, the impact of the transfer on the staff of penal facilities, demilitarization as an important factor in the reform, the need to provide access to places of detention for civil society and media and the need to reduce the prison population.
Presenting their experience, experts from Latvia and Azerbaijan stressed that while the reform of the penitentiary system aims at improving conditions of imprisonment and humanizing the treatment of prisoners, it also benefits society as a whole: "Imprisonment has negative consequences because people lose touch with life outside prison and have difficulties to reintegrate when they return to society" they recalled.
"Since prisons cannot be isolated from society, all the problems inside the prisons will sooner or later become the problems of society at large. One simple and illustrative example is illnesses. If tuberculosis is very common in prisons, the prisoners will spread it once they leave the places of detention", said Monika Platek, an OSCE expert and professor at Warsaw Law University.
High-ranking representatives of the governments and other state institutions from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan participated in the conference and made presentations on past changes and future plans. A set of recommendations on steps to undertake was elaborated in order to ensure that the transfer is accompanied by real and meaningful reform of the whole penitentiary system.
"This decisive step will give both countries more self-confidence in their future endeavours", said Ambassador Marc Gilbert, Head of the OSCE Mission to Tajikistan, at an international conference in Dushanbe. "It is an important step in moving closer to fulfilling international standards", he added.
The conference on 10 and 11 October was jointly organized by the Mission, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the Ministries of Justice and Interior of Tajikistan, with the support of Penal Reform International and the Swiss Development Co-operation office.
"We are very much obliged to the OSCE in starting this reform. It is a new direction for us and we are ready to learn from the world's experience", said Fayzullo Abdulloev, First Deputy Minister of Justice of Tajikistan. "Investigation and punishment cannot be in one single institution. It is of particular importance for the respect of human rights".
Participants discussed effective actions to be taken and the possible consequences of the transfer, including legislative changes, financial implications, the impact of the transfer on the staff of penal facilities, demilitarization as an important factor in the reform, the need to provide access to places of detention for civil society and media and the need to reduce the prison population.
Presenting their experience, experts from Latvia and Azerbaijan stressed that while the reform of the penitentiary system aims at improving conditions of imprisonment and humanizing the treatment of prisoners, it also benefits society as a whole: "Imprisonment has negative consequences because people lose touch with life outside prison and have difficulties to reintegrate when they return to society" they recalled.
"Since prisons cannot be isolated from society, all the problems inside the prisons will sooner or later become the problems of society at large. One simple and illustrative example is illnesses. If tuberculosis is very common in prisons, the prisoners will spread it once they leave the places of detention", said Monika Platek, an OSCE expert and professor at Warsaw Law University.
High-ranking representatives of the governments and other state institutions from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan participated in the conference and made presentations on past changes and future plans. A set of recommendations on steps to undertake was elaborated in order to ensure that the transfer is accompanied by real and meaningful reform of the whole penitentiary system.