Training seminar on human rights protection co-organized by OSCE in West Kazakhstan
CHAPAEVO, Kazakhstan, 17 April 2017 – The first in a series of five OSCE-supported three-day training seminars on national and international mechanisms of human rights protection started today in the village of Chapaevo, West Kazakhstan Region, Kazakhstan.
Over 230 administration representatives from the city of Uralsk as well as the districts Akzhayk and Terekty in the West Kazakhstan Region, judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers and members of civil society will learn about the roles of different protective institutions, including ways to address individual complaints by national and international bodies.
Participants will discuss international standards for protecting women’s and children’s rights and the provision of social services to victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. Particular attention will be paid to novelties in labour legislation, the prevention of labour and social conflicts, non-compete agreements, social partnerships, as well as disciplinary and material responsibilities of employees and resolution of labour disputes.
Secretary of the Human Rights Commission Tastemir Abishev said: “Seminars like this on various aspects of human rights and freedoms are equally important for the purposes of education and raising the level of legal culture in regions, on the one hand, and for building co-operation between the representatives of local governments and civil society groups, on the other.”
Ambassador György Szabó, the Head of the OSCE Programme Office said: “The OSCE supports national initiatives aimed at raising human rights awareness, which is important for the promotion of stability in the country. We are pleased to open this year’s series of seminars on protection mechanisms in the West Kazakhstan region.” He encouraged active participation in discussions and expressed the hope that the seminar will help facilitate more effective use of protection mechanisms at the local level.
The event was co-organized by the Human Rights Commission under the jurisdiction of the President, with the support of the Administration and the Prosecutor’s Office of the West Kazakhstan Region and the OSCE Programme Office in Astana.
The event is the first in a series of five training seminars planned by the Human Rights Commission under the President with the support of the OSCE Programme Office in Astana this year. It follows a similar series that took place in seven regions across the host country during the past two years. It is part of the Office’s long-term efforts to support national human rights institutions and fundamental freedoms in Kazakhstan.