On 21 November 2024, a side event dedicated to criminal justice monitoring in the OSCE region was held in Astana at the Ninth Central Asian Criminal Justice Forum. The event was organized by the Legal Policy Research Centre jointly with the International Partnership for Human Rights and the ODIHR OSCE, with the financial support of the European Union.

The event was attended by 50 participants from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia, including judges, prosecutors, lawyers, civil society representatives and international experts.

The event presented the Criminal Justice Monitoring Methodology developed within the framework of the partnership project “Creation and implementation of a national mechanism for monitoring, coordination and response of civil society to promote justice sector reform in Kyrgyzstan”, implemented in Kyrgyzstan by the International Partnership for Human Rights and the Public Foundation “Lawyers for Human Rights” with the financial support of the European Union.

This methodology was piloted in Kyrgyzstan in 2024. Representative of the national civil society monitoring network Akiikat Karegi presented the first results of monitoring in Kyrgyzstan on issues of criminal policy, pre-trial proceedings, the rights of minors and the penal system. The event allowed sharing experiences with colleagues and professionals from various fields and discussing the prospects for using the methodology in the countries of the region.

The organizers of the event announced that in 2025, criminal justice monitoring according to this methodology will be implemented in Kazakhstan within the framework of the project “Coordinated Civil Society Action to Promote the Rule of Law for All”, implemented by the Public Foundation “Legal Policy Research Centre” (LPRC) and the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) with the financial support of the European Union. The project is designed for 3 years – from the beginning of 2024 to the end of 2026 and aims to increase the capacity of civil society to support the rule of law and respond to challenges in the criminal justice system in Kazakhstan.

You can read the text of the official press release at this link.