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

The last 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 took place on 20 May 2015 in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Some 40 members of the NPM from non-governmental organizations, representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office as well as the Interior, Education and Health Care Ministries discussed 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 related to it are implemented.

Discussions were led by a member of the UN Sub-Committee on Prevention of Torture and national experts who focused on the international and national legal frameworks as well as 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 were 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 was paid to the activities 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 training seminar was also preceded by an extended session of NPM Coordination Council, where a consolidated report on preventive visits in 2014 was presented.

The seminar 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 concluded the series of training and capacity-building events the Office has supported in 2015 for some 120 NPM members from across the country.

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.