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OSCE and Kyrgyzstan sign agreement on implementing first major police assistance programme in Central Asia
BISHKEK 7 August 2003
BISHKEK, 7 August 2003 - The Kyrgyz Government has signed a key agreement today with the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, launching a comprehensive OSCE police assistance programme aimed at establishing community policing, improving the quality of criminal investigation and strengthening the emergency response capacity of the police force.
"This is a first step in establishing a dynamic and transparent partnership between the OSCE and the police of Kyrgyzstan," said Ambassador Aydin Idil, Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, at a ceremony with the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan, Nikolai Tanaev.
The signing of this formal Memorandum of Understanding took place during a visit to Bishkek by the Organization's Senior Police Adviser, Richard Monk, who is head of the Strategic Police Matters Unit in Vienna, which will assist with the implementation of the various projects by the OSCE Centre, in co-operation with the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry.
The programme, the first such police assistance programme in Central Asia, was developed at the request of the Kyrgyz Government. A detailed needs assessment was then conducted by the Unit between October and December 2002. This agreed programme document foresees a number of thematic areas:
The projects will also include recommendations to the Kyrgyz police on a number of modern law enforcement tools, methods and techniques.
However, the programme is not just one of technical assistance. It also contains elements explicitly aimed at creating a constructive partnership between the police and the population. The community-policing project in particular will lead to the creation of a police/public consultative committee, involving civil action groups that will jointly address the definition of priorities for focusing police resources.
And the Government will include two representatives selected by the non-governmental organization (NGO) community itself in the State Commission on Police Reform. The Executive Steering Committee responsible for implementing the Police Assistance Programme will also have two representatives selected by the NGO community.
Thus, the programme is intended as an example of assistance to the Kyrgyz Government to be implemented in co-operation with the NGO community in transparency and in a spirit of understanding between the Authorities and the civil society.
The implementation of the programme is in line with a decision taken at the 2001 OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting to enhance the OSCE's role in police-related activities in the fields of conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation.
This includes the provision of advice and assistance on the restructuring of police services, monitoring and training of existing police services, training on human rights and fundamental freedoms, capacity-building in all forms of policing, including support for integrated or multi-ethnic police services.
"This is a first step in establishing a dynamic and transparent partnership between the OSCE and the police of Kyrgyzstan," said Ambassador Aydin Idil, Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, at a ceremony with the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan, Nikolai Tanaev.
The signing of this formal Memorandum of Understanding took place during a visit to Bishkek by the Organization's Senior Police Adviser, Richard Monk, who is head of the Strategic Police Matters Unit in Vienna, which will assist with the implementation of the various projects by the OSCE Centre, in co-operation with the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry.
The programme, the first such police assistance programme in Central Asia, was developed at the request of the Kyrgyz Government. A detailed needs assessment was then conducted by the Unit between October and December 2002. This agreed programme document foresees a number of thematic areas:
- introducing community policing methods as a pilot project in the Pervomaisky police district of Bishkek;
- strengthening the Kyrgyz Police Academy for police recruits and refresher courses;
- improving the quality of police investigations;
- improving police capacity for drug interdiction;
- setting up the core of a national criminal information analysis system;
- strengthening police capacity to prevent conflict and manage public disorder;
- providing a radio-communications system for the criminal police; and
- strengthening the emergency response capacity with a modern and efficient emergency call response centre.
The projects will also include recommendations to the Kyrgyz police on a number of modern law enforcement tools, methods and techniques.
However, the programme is not just one of technical assistance. It also contains elements explicitly aimed at creating a constructive partnership between the police and the population. The community-policing project in particular will lead to the creation of a police/public consultative committee, involving civil action groups that will jointly address the definition of priorities for focusing police resources.
And the Government will include two representatives selected by the non-governmental organization (NGO) community itself in the State Commission on Police Reform. The Executive Steering Committee responsible for implementing the Police Assistance Programme will also have two representatives selected by the NGO community.
Thus, the programme is intended as an example of assistance to the Kyrgyz Government to be implemented in co-operation with the NGO community in transparency and in a spirit of understanding between the Authorities and the civil society.
The implementation of the programme is in line with a decision taken at the 2001 OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting to enhance the OSCE's role in police-related activities in the fields of conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation.
This includes the provision of advice and assistance on the restructuring of police services, monitoring and training of existing police services, training on human rights and fundamental freedoms, capacity-building in all forms of policing, including support for integrated or multi-ethnic police services.