OSCE Centre helps train Kyrgyz police officers on human rights principles

BISHKEK, 18 April 2008 - Police officers from the Osh, Jalalabad and Batken provinces of Kyrgyzstan completed an OSCE Centre-organized course on human rights today.

The Center for Human Rights and Civil Oversight of the Kyrgyz Police Academy led the six-day seminar for more than 430 police officers, who were trained on topics including rights of arrested and convicted persons, prohibition of torture, use of force and firearms, freedom of expression, rights of national minorities and refugees, and international legal instruments.

"The goal of the training courses is to raise awareness of police on international human rights standards and protecting rights of individual, including those of children and women," said Knut Dreyer, Police Reform Adviser of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek.

"It is good that the training has been held as it directly affects police officers' work in the field. We are also interested in the continuation of this type of training," said Captain Jenish Ashirbaev, the spokesperson of the Osh Regional Police Department, Interior Ministry.

The training was organized by the OSCE Centre as part of an ongoing project with the Kyrgyz Police Academy that aims at promoting modern teaching methodologies at the Academy and strengthening the human rights education of police officers, especially in the regions. Similar trainings for police officers from the northern provinces will take place in May.