OSCE meeting to discuss criminal justice reform in Central Asia

ASTANA, 17 September 2008 - Some 50 high-level criminal justice professionals and experts from across Central Asia will discuss the reform of the criminal justice systems in the countries of the region at a meeting that opened in Zerenda, Kazakhstan, today.

The three-day event is organized annually by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Almaty-based Legal Policy Research Centre (LPRC), a think tank that works on promoting legal reform in Central Asia, with the support of OSCE field operations in the region.

"The meeting will discuss recent developments in the criminal justice systems in Central Asia and review compliance of the states of the region with international fair trial standards," said Carsten Weber, the head of ODIHR's Rule of Law programme.

"This year we will look at new provisions for judicial authorization of remand custody in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and the challenges and prospects for drafting new criminal procedural legislation in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. The experts will also assess the directions of administrative justice reform in the region."

The meeting, previously known as the ODIHR Summer School on Criminal Justice, takes place in a new format this year, providing for more interaction between experts from Central Asia and from other parts of the OSCE on prospects of criminal justice reform.

"The meeting is a unique platform for stimulating professional discussion on the prospects of criminal justice reform through a regional perspective," said Weber.

The key speakers at the meeting, which is supported by the government of Ireland, include experts from Germany, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, Slovenia and Ukraine.