OSCE visit familiarizes Turkmenistan officials with penitentiary system in France

PARIS, 5 June 2015 – Penitentiary and law enforcement officials from Turkmenistan discussed best practices of implementing international standards in the penitentiary system during an OSCE-supported working visit to France that concluded in Paris today.

The five-day visit was organized by the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat in close co-operation with the Justice Ministry of France. The visit participants met with the senior penitentiary administration officials at the Justice Ministry, a penitentiary judge as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations dealing with penitentiary issues.

“Although deprived of liberty, inmates are entitled to enjoy human rights, and prison staff is playing a key role in ensuring their observance. The international community developed a package of instruments containing provisions on the work of prison staff and the OSCE is undertaking various activities to assist its participating States in translating commitments on prisoner’s rights into practical implementation,” said Vardon Deniz  Hoca, Human Dimension Officer of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.

He noted that the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat organized several visits for Turkmen officials and added that they were important in providing first-hand exchange of professional experiences and observation of the work of their colleagues in other countries which are essential for efforts to further advance Turkmenistan’s  penitentiary system.

The delegation visited a juvenile detention centre, men’s and women’s prisons and discussed the specifics of working with different groups of inmates, security measures in prisons, pre-service and in-service training of prison staff as well as education and vocational training for prisoners.