OSCE Office supports training for penitentiary officials in Tajikistan on rights of persons deprived of liberty

KHUJAND, Tajikistan, 24 May 2011 - A two-day OSCE-supported training seminar on international and domestic mechanisms for the protection and observation of the rights of persons deprived of liberty started today in Khujand in northern Tajikistan.

The event was held in co-operation with the Department of Constitutional Guarantees of Citizen Rights in the Executive Office of the President, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman, the Office of the General Prosecutor and Tajik National University.

Thirty representatives of the Department of Corrections of Sughd Oblast are attending this first of three training courses for penitentiary officials to be held this summer.

“The willingness of the authorities to address difficult questions of attitudes to punishment, the financing of the system, and problems of extremism and treatment of persons convicted of extremism in an open forum is an important step toward increasing transparency of the system,” said Anna Crowley, the OSCE Office’s human rights officer.

“It is the goal of our government to move towards full implementation of international standards and our obligations with regard to conditions for prisoners. Many domestic mechanisms exist to protect the rights of persons deprived of liberty; we should take advantage of them, while at the same time reviewing domestic legislation to ensure it contains the most effective mechanisms for promoting and protecting rights,” said Muzaffar Ashurov, the Head of the Department of Constitutional Guarantees of Citizen Rights in the Executive Office of the President.

Topics covered include domestic mechanisms for the protection of prisoner rights, prosecutorial control of places of detention, role of the Human Rights Ombudsman in protecting and promoting rights of detainees, and practical implementation of the international commitments of Tajikistan in the work of correctional facilities.

Participants were also trained in the practical application of international standards by Erik Svanizde, a member of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and a former Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia, responsible for the Correction Department.

Subsequent training events will be conducted in Kurghanteppa and in Dushanbe.