The prioritisation of human rights took considerably longer than the development of
community policing programmes. However, Human Rights training became a fundamental
tool in conveying international police standards and police ethics to local counterparts. While
programmes were initially developed by the CSI, they were increasingly being requested by
the community and counterparts, as were other means of supporting human rights in
different project sites. Advising on the development of such programmes, and assuring the
appropriate networking of the CSI with other international and local actors, was the CSI HRA.
In addition, collaboration in Chuy province with the Chuy Provincial Ombudsman was
initiated.
In 2012, the CSI gave eleven training courses and workshops to police officers, municipal
workers, and schoolchildren on human rights issues. Recognizing that the phrase “human
rights” might distract some participants from accepting the messages being conveyed, the
subject was coupled with “police ethics”. Scenarios were given for attendees to judge the
appropriate action, with the underlying theme being that respect for human rights could not
only assist police officers with their responsibilities, but increase the respect granted to them
by their communities.
At the direction of an Osh city CSWG, 10,000 Human/Citizen Rights brochures were
produced in autumn for distribution across the CSI districts. They contained information for
residents on their legal rights and protections under the law. By increasing public awareness,
they were expected to also reduce the likelihood of violations escaping recognition.
Surveillance cameras were installed in several police stations, including Kyzyl-Kiya, Osh city,
and Jalal-Abad. The cameras worked to ensure no violations of human rights were occurring
within police custody, and also protected police officers from false allegations by the public.
These efforts were launched in co-ordination with Prosecutor’s Office and police
management.
The CSI had hoped that their co-location at the MoI might be instrumental in increasing
attention to addressing allegations of human rights abuses, but by the end of 2012 no
changes had occurred in this respect. This was in part due to the limited level of commitment
demonstrated by the MoI to prioritize an internal mechanism to address allegations of human
rights abuses.
Multi-Ethnic Policing
Multi-ethnic policing was another area in which inroads were below the CSI’s expectations.
With the appointment of a Senior Adviser to the MoI in July 2012, the CSI had hoped that the
project would have a more stable means of raising this issue with the Kyrgyzstani MoI.
However, the Ministry’s Concept on Police Reform presented during the year indicated that
no tangible efforts would be made to include more ethnic minorities in policing duties
throughout the nation. This was one of the major impediments in gaining the trust of ethnic
minorities, who, it was reported, were often targeted by the police for bribes and illegal
detention. The problem was circular: police stations made no concerted effort to target the
hiring of ethnic minorities (through quotas or other means) as the hiring policy was set by the
MoI, resulting in ethnic minorities not trusting the police and not feeling represented by them;
the minorities thus did not wish to join the police service.
Therefore, the CSI decided to confront this issue through better relations between the police
and minorities in their project sites. Though many events originally aimed at discussing
minority issues directly, over time the project leaned more toward including minority in other
thematic events, wherein race was not the topic of discourse. Sports games, town hall
meetings, and training courses were held during which individuals of varying ethnic
background could meet as peers and neighbours rather than representatives of different
groups. Almost all youth events involved this multi-ethnic dynamic so that children might
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