Kyrgyz delegation on study tour in Denmark
The 12th to the 16th of September theKyrgyz Minister of Justice, Zhyldyz Mambetalieva, and a delegation of employees from the Kyrgyz Ministry of Justice will study several Danish political andlegal institutions and their working conditions, methods and experiences. During their stay,they will alsomeet with the Danish Minister of Justice, Søren Pind.
The delegation will visit the Danish Ministry of Justice, the Ombudsman Institution, the Danish Parliament and the General Prosecutor among others.
"The goal of this study tour is for the Kyrgyz delegation to get inspiration and information on how to build an efficient and trustworthy organisation. My hope is that the visit, at least to some extent, will have an “eye-opening” effect and will trigger another way of thinking or looking upon things. Europe is not a perfect place. We also have challenges that might be interesting and insightful for our Kyrgyz partners", says Ekaterina Redon, manager of the “Promotion of Rule of Law in the Kyrgyz Republic” project.
Challenges in Kyrgyzstan
As the first country in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan adopted parliamentary democracy in 2010 with its first fair and peaceful election. Before the election, during a period of over four days, an ethnic conflict broke out between the Kyrgyz and the Uzbek minority. Around 450 people were killed, 2000 buildings destroyed and more than 300,000 people were internally displaced.
It is within this context that the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) is working with the Ministry of Justice in Kyrgyzstan on the ”Promotion of Rule of Law in the Kyrgyz Republic” project financed by EU. The programme runs until 2017 and is implemented by a consortium of six international organisations, including DIHR.
Trust Index
Since 2012 the activities of state executive authorities in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and all state executive bodies are being evaluated on number of parameters, including "public trust index". The objective measurement of the "trust index" is an actual assessment of the degree of public confidence in the activities of state institution.
DIHR supports the Ministry of Justice in their effort to achieve the goal of increasing their Trust Index amongst the population of the Kyrgyz Republic. This goal ispart of the Ministry of Justice's overall campaign on legal awareness.
Together we are aiming at strengthening the Ministry's work in the areas of communication, dialogue and awareness raising and there are already good first indications.
Know your rights
In June, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Justice held an awareness raising campaign in the main regions of the country, under the slogan "Know your rights". The campaign took place under the professional holiday "The lawyer Day". The lawyers and notaries of the Ministry of Justice provided citizens with free legal assistance in 17 tents put up in densely populated areas of the country. More than fifty lawyers and notaries from the Ministry took part in the campaign, which lasted two days. About 1.700 people received free legal aid.
The main objective was to protect the rights of citizens, improve the legal awareness and legal culture of the population, and strengthen cooperation and dialogue between local authorities, lawyers and citizens.