OSCE-supported roundtable discussion on rehabilitation and reintegration of juvenile offenders held in Dushanbe

A roundtable meeting on the rehabilitation and reintegration of juvenile offenders was held in Dushanbe on 11 June 2019. The event was jointly organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe and Tajikistan’s Ministry of Justice.

Some 50 Tajik and international experts and representatives of Tajik government agencies and international and civil society organizations discussed the key outcomes and recommendations of a legal analysis conducted earlier this year by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe. The analysis assessed national legislation for compliance with international standards in the field of rehabilitation of children in conflict with the law.

They also reviewed a document drafted by the OSCE Programme Office, the Rehabilitation and Reintegration Programme for Children in Conflict with the Law, including children who have served their sentences in places of detention. The programme is a key mechanism for rehabilitation and social reintegration of juvenile prisoners and former prisoners, which is foreseen to be implemented by Tajikistan’s Ministry of Justice for 2020 to 2024.

At the roundtable meeting Rajabmo Habibullozoda, Tajikistan’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights noted the importance of this initiative, which would serve as a good springboard to start the activities on rehabilitation of children in the justice system. She said that these services would be provided not only to children who leave places of detention, but also to those children who have been found guilty of committing a crime, and received noncustodial sentences or were exempted from criminal liability.

“Tajikistan has taken important steps to ensure that the justice system is accurately reformed and that young offenders can learn to become responsible citizens, who constructively contribute to the development of society”, emphasized Ambassador Valeriu Chiveri, Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe.