OSCE Centre supports promotion of freedom of assembly in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, 2 June 2011 – Kyrgyzstan’s draft law on peaceful assembly was the focus of an OSCE-supported public discussion among Kyrgyzstan’s authorities, international and national experts and representatives of civil society and international organizations today. Participants discussed how both policy and practice in the area of peaceful assembly can be improved.

The event was a joint effort by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Parliament and Ministry of Justice of Kyrgyzstan, the European Union, UNDP and the Regional Office for Central Asia of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. A legal opinion, jointly prepared by the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission in December 2010, was presented at the roundtable.

“The new Constitution adopted by referendum last year provides Kyrgyzstan with a solid direction on freedom of assembly. It is now of utmost importance to bring national legislation in line with the Constitution and international standards, including OSCE human dimension commitments,” said Lilian Darii, the Deputy Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek.

Chinara Mamidinova, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, said: “After the new Constitution was adopted in 2010, the draft law was elaborated by the working group under the Ministry of Justice with substantial involvement of civil society and international organizations. The joint opinion prepared by the Venice Commission and ODIHR has been of great help in steering discussion about the bill, with relevant contributions from many Ministries, law enforcement agencies and civil society. I would like to outline the importance of the soonest finalization of these activities, as it is crucial to reduce the period during which there is a misbalance between the national legislation and the Constitution of the country.”

The roundtable follows a three-day training seminar, co-organized by the OSCE and other partners, for 25 human rights defenders. The course focused on monitoring the freedom of peaceful assembly in Kyrgyzstan. Training was delivered by two members of the OSCE/ODIHR Panel of Experts on Freedom of Assembly in tandem with national experts. The trained monitors will conduct monitoring of freedom of assembly across the country in the course of six months, and will produce a final monitoring report by the end of the year.