Kyrgyz institutions gear up for future working plans

This week, the Kyrgyz Ombudsman institution, the Ministry of Justice, the General Prosecutor´s office and the parliament´s Human Rights Committee have received training leading up to the finalisation of new working plans.

On Wednesday, employees of the Ombudsman were participating.

“This session was very useful. We talked about weaknesses and strengths of our institution, and we highlighted priorities for our work plan,” Ms. Karabaeva Muhabbat, head of the Ombudsman´s department for processing citizens’ complaints, said.

“Personally, I want to work towards being better skilled in working with the law and providing suggestions for amendments for the draft law for the Ombudsman institution, so we are certain to keep our independence,” Ms. Muhabbat added.

Huge commitment

The Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Austrian Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights have been conducting the trainings as part of a EU project promoting rule of law in Kyrgyzstan.

Senior adviser Philippe Draut of the Danish Institute for Human Rights was one of the trainers:

“The participants are very engaged. They are extremely committed to create the best institutions benefitting their people. We can hopefully support them in this,” Philippe Draut explains.

The EU project is running for three years with the objective of strengthening the rule of law in Kyrgyzstan. The Danish Institute for Human Rights is, together with the Austrian Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights, leading the work with the four mentioned Kyrgyz institutions.

“The initial analysing work as these trainings are part of can be difficult to grasp. But they are essential for our ability to establish, together with the Kyrgyz partners, what we are to focus on during the coming years in order to strengthen their oversight capacity,” project manager Sigrid Kristiansen explains.

“The trainings and analyses will make it clear what kind of training and capacity building is needed. For example, we might agree that the Ombudsman Institution needs courses in improving the visibility towards the Kyrgyz people, sensitising them on their right to complain,” she adds.

The rule of law project runs through 2017.