OSCE, government partners review preliminary results of newly-established civilian mediation network in southern Kyrgyzstan

A one-day conference reviewing 2011 activities and plans for next year’s work of the OSCE-supported civilian mediation corps teams in Osh City and Osh Province in southern Kyrgyzstan took place on 11 November 2011.

The conference was conducted by the OSCE in co-operation with the non-governmental organization “IRET” and officials from the Osh City Mayor and the Osh Province Governor’s Office.  Representatives from all the mediation teams, law enforcement, as well as regional and district government officials also attended the meeting.

In 2011, the OSCE Centre in Bishkek supported the establishment of a civilian mediation corps in Osh and Jalal-Abad Provinces and Osh City in partnership with the Osh City Mayor’s Office and Osh Province Governor’s Office. The NGO “IRET” also played a key role in all project activities: it worked with government partners and civil society in selecting mediators and actively participated in training the teams in mediation skills.

Each team involved in mediation and conflict prevention was composed of influential local people from various social groups and communities, of different ethnic and religious background, age and gender. Civil society and authorities representatives were equally represented in each group.

The first priority of the mediation teams has been to identify potential sources of conflict in their communities and engage in an early preventive dialogue with all the stakeholders. The second priority has been to do emergency mediation with law enforcement bodies and governmental officials in case an immediate outbreak of conflict was possible.

Ambassador Andrew Tesoriere, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, said: “This OSCE-supported scheme, to capitalise on local knowledge, skills and capacity by training and organizing a large network of conflict mediators from within local communities, is a true innovation in conflict management and a good example of national self-help.”

“The mediators can be a genuine asset in time of tension in supporting the authorities in crisis management and conflict prevention”.

Mamatemin Omurzakov, the Head of the Coordination Department of Osh Territorial Councils, said: “This project has good potential for improving inter-action and co-operation between the local administrations and the communities in order to address matters related to inter-ethnic relations and security in Osh city”.

Marhabo Zulpukarova, the Head of the Department of Organizational Work and Local Self-Governance of Osh Province, added: “The creation of teams of mediators has helped local citizens to feel more secure as they can see that inter-ethnic problems are addressed jointly by the government structures, law-enforcement agencies and the civil society.”