OSCE promotes human rights standards during criminal proceedings and investigations
An OSCE-organized online course for law students on promoting international human rights standards in criminal proceedings and investigations took place in Ashgabat from 6 to 10 December 2021.
The five-day event brought together students and trainers from the Institute under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Institute of International Relations under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Turkmen State University named after Magtymguly and International University for Humanities and Development of Turkmenistan.
Three international experts from Moldova introduced participants to the concept of human rights, the background, types and functions as well as respect for human rights in the context of criminal justice. They discussed actions to ensure the right to human liberty at the stage of pre-trial investigation, as well as the right of suspects and defendants to a fair defense and legal advice.
The course is designed to complement existing educational programmes in the field of human rights protection and criminal proceedings. It aims to build capacities of representatives of state authorities and students, as future state officials, to apply international human rights standards, including the OSCE gender-related commitments, in their day-to-day work.
"Security and respect for human rights are inseparably linked and the OSCE's founding document, the Helsinki Final Act, commits all OSCE participating States to a comprehensive catalog of human rights and democratic norms,” said John MacGregor, Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.
“The human rights courses will contribute to the professional development of new generation of legal professionals in Turkmenistan equipped with up-to-date knowledge in the area of international human rights standards,” MacGregor added.
At the end of the training course, participants will receive certificates of attendance, and the most active students will be awarded with medals and gifts for their best performance and outstanding knowledge demonstrated during the event.