UN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FIELD UN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FIELD institutions (NHRIs) from all five Central Asian countries. Furthermore, the Asian Forum on Human Rights in Samarkand, which was, among others, co-organized by the Office, UNDP and Uzbekistan’s National Human Rights Centre, provided an example of the Office’s renewed engagement in Uzbekistan. CENTRAL ASIA Type of engagement Regional Office Countries of engagement Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan Year established 2008 Field office(s) Bishkek, with field offices in Astana, Almaty (Kazakhstan); Osh (Kyrgyzstan); Dushanbe (Tajikistan), United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia in Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) Staff as of 31 December 2018 12 Total income US$809,287 XB requirements 2018 US$1,401,000 Total XB expenditure In Kazakhstan, the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), with the support of the Office, increased the capacity of its staff members to exercise their role in preventing torture, and was able to extend staff tenure to two years to ensure better continuity. The Office also successfully advocated for broadening the NPM’s mandate by defining places of deprivation of liberty in accordance with international standards. US$875,559 Personnel Non-personnel PSC† 33% 56% 11% $285,153 $494,333 $96,072 Total RB expenditure In Kyrgyzstan, the Office maintained its long-term support for comprehensive reform of the criminal justice process. In preparation for the entry into force of the revised criminal code and criminal procedure code, comprehensive training was provided to all actors involved in the criminal justice process and specific manuals were produced. The Office also highlighted concerns – bilaterally and publicly – about the use of criminal justice legislation within the context of preventing and countering violent extremism. US$735,748 Personnel Non-personnel 81% 19% $598,229 $137,519 Key OMP pillars in 2018 † Please refer to Data sources and notes on p.191. KEY PILLAR RESULTS: Accountability (A) A1 – Governments act to ensure that legislation, policies and State practices with respect to the criminal justice system comply with international human rights standards. OHCHR contributed to improving the level of compliance of legislation/policy with international human rights standards in 282 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 the areas of criminal justice and justice reform in the region. In 2018, the Office continued advocating for the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession, as well as comprehensive justice reform across all countries of the region, by facilitating high-level policy and legislative discussions. The seventh Regional Criminal Justice Forum, co-organized by OHCHR with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and UNODC, resulted in fruitful discussions regarding achievements in legal and judicial reforms and challenges in implementing international human rights standards. Participants included parliamentarians, government officials, the judiciary, law enforcement, bar associations, academia, civil society and national human rights In Uzbekistan, renewed engagement led to the provision of specific guidance on several draft laws in the thematic areas of domestic and gender-based violence, prevention of violent extremism as well as on the NPM and the Decree of the President regulating the mandate and status of the NMRF. In Tajikistan, OHCHR supported State authorities and civil society in advancing their work on comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation and drafting of the national action plan on implementing CAT concluding observations. The Office undertook an intermediary role and ensured that related processes of legislative development would be designed in a participatory manner. A1 – Institutions that train judges, law enforcement officials, the staff of security-related agencies, or lawyers, and other educational institutions, include human rights in their training as a matter of course. The Office contributed to institutionalizing human rights training for law enforcement officials, State authorities involved in the criminal justice process and lawyers on the right to peaceful assembly, criminal justice and non-discrimination. During the reporting period, previously planned capacity-development work with State authorities in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan was increased by successfully leveraging extra budgetary contributions. In Kazakhstan, more than 80 law enforcement officials across three regions of Kazakhstan were trained in the first phase of a comprehensive, tailored programme on the right to peaceful assembly and international standards on the facilitation of assemblies. A preliminary agreement of relevant State authorities was secured to promote the inclusion of the programme into training centre curricula. In Kyrgyzstan, successful engagement with State authorities involved in the criminal justice process, in particular the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General, the Ministry of Interior, the penitentiary service and the State Committee for National Security, ensured that the training centres of the mentioned institutions were prepared for the entry into force of new criminal legislation, in 2019, both in terms of training materials and training courses Shifts: on criminal justice reform. In addition, nearly 750 prosecutors (close to 70 per cent of all prosecutors in the country) received training on the criminal justice reform package. The trainers came from the State training centre and received training from the Office in 2017. Furthermore, the Office secured the commitment of the training centres to institutionalize the first comprehensive training programme on non-discrimination, in Kyrgyzstan, in 2019. A2 – National human rights institutions are more effective, independent and interconnected in accordance with the Paris Principles; nationally and subregionally, they play a leading role in protecting and promoting human rights at the national level and in the region. OHCHR contributed to increasing the compliance of NHRIs in the region with international standards (Paris Principles). In 2018, building on the achievements of the “Central Asia Support Initiative for National Human Rights Institutions” (CASINHRI), which was supported by OHCHR and UNDP and implemented at the regional and national levels, the regional cooperation platform of the region’s five Ombudsperson Institutions was strengthened by leveraging synergies between countries. At the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), which was attended by the five Ombudspersons of the region, the CASI-NHRI was highlighted as a key example of the operationalization of the GANHRI-OHCHR-UNDP tripartite partnership. In addition, a regional capacity-development workshop on human rights education for mid-level NHRI staff extended regional cooperation beyond the NHRIs’ leadership and established informal cooperation channels. The CASI-NHRI undertook advocacy and capacity-development activities at Prevention UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 283