OSCE Programme Office in Astana launches training seminars on National Preventive Mechanism

The first in a series of four OSCE-supported training seminars on the practical aspects of implementation of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) for Preventing Torture and Ill-treatment in Kazakhstan began on 12 May 2015 in Atyrau, Kazakhstan.

Some 30 members of the NPM from non-governmental organizations, regional offices of the Prosecutor General’s Office, Interior, Education and Health Care Ministries will discuss the key challenges in fulfilling the NPM’s monitoring obligations in Kazakhstan and effective measures to be taken at multiple levels to ensure that national laws regarding the prevention of torture and ill-treatment are implemented.

Discussions will be led by a member of the UN Sub-Committee on Prevention of Torture and national experts focused on the international and national legal frameworks, and the analysis of anti-torture standards and their implementation, including necessary mechanisms for conducting preventive visits to detention facilities and reporting on the findings.

Participants will be trained on monitoring methodology and how to prepare monitoring reports for preventive visits to police stations, mental health institutions, drug rehabilitation centres and juvenile justice establishments. Particular attention will be paid to the performance of the regional NPM groups and their co-operation and external communication with regional law-enforcement departments, prosecutors, prison administrations, healthcare institutions and media representatives.

The two-day capacity-building event for NPM members from across the country was organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana in partnership with the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Kazakhstan, the Regional Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with support from the Penal Reform International Office in Central Asia. It will be followed by three training seminars in Ust-Kamenogorsk, eastern Kazakhstan, Almaty, southern Kazakhstan, and Astana.

The series is part of the Office’s long-term efforts to establish the NPM and promote the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture in the host country.