OSCE Centre in Ashgabat supports courses on prisoners' rights

ASHGABAT, 19 May 2009 - Thirty high-ranking law enforcement officers working in penitentiary institutions around Turkmenistan are taking part in a two-day OSCE Centre seminar on international legal standards for the treatment of prisoners that started in Ashgabat today.

The seminar will be followed this week by a three-day training course aimed at familiarizing the students at the Police Academy with applicable international standards related to the rights of prisoners, including the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Participants will include more than 80 students as well as teachers at the Police Academy.

Both events, which are held in the Police Academy of Turkmenistan, are being organized in co-operation with the Foreign Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Police Academy.

"We welcome the interest of Turkmenistan's authorities in opening up new areas of co-operation with the OSCE, and in particular further strengthening the knowledge of penitentiary staff about universally recognized principles and rules related to the treatment of prisoners. The OSCE Centre stands ready to support Turkmenistan in its on-going efforts to further upgrade the domestic penitentiary system through a number of specially tailored activities, such as the two events which start this week," said Ambassador Arsim Zekolli, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.

An international expert will also hold separate meetings with staff and teachers of the Police Academy alongside the seminars in order to identify areas where the current training curriculum could be further strengthened.

In addition, the Centre will publish and disseminate several hundred copies of nine booklets on the rights of different categories of prisoners.

The events are part of the OSCE Centre's human dimension programme, which has a particular focus on strengthening the rule of law in Turkmenistan. This project will be followed by five training courses for judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers and investigators on international human rights standards during criminal proceedings.