Implementation of the Code of Criminal Procedure A project of the Human Dimension Department’s Legal-Judicial Reform Unit highlighted gaps and areas for improvement in the new Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and its implementation by law enforcement, prosecutors and judges, with a particular focus on areas of the CPC that provide additional protection for individuals during detention and pre-trial investigation. The project, implemented by the NGO Human Rights Centre, in close cooperation with the Office of the Prosecutor General, provided training for over 100 prosecutors from around the country on torture prevention, as well as fair trial rights and guarantees of human rights in terrorist and extremist prosecutions. In the frame of the project, civil society representatives held regular meetings with defence attorneys to identify cases of torture and ill-treatment and trace the procedural elements that lead to these human rights violations. Three public discussions brought together defence attorneys, representatives of law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and civil society activists to discuss legislative and practical measures for strengthening rights guarantees in the criminal process. A final roundtable, conducted by the Human Rights Centre together with the Office of the Prosecutor General, resulted in 39 recommendations by the Human Rights Centre on strengthening the rights guarantees that were formally conveyed to the Executive Office of the President, Parliament, the Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General’s Office. Detention Standards Through training courses in Khujand and Kurgan-tyube, conducted jointly with the Office of the President, the Human Rights Ombudsman, the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Tajik National University, the Human Dimension Department’s Legal-Judicial Reform Unit introduced 60 penitentiary officials to international standards for the treatment of persons deprived of liberty. The international trainer involved in the training courses, a former member of the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture, held parallel discussions in Dushanbe and Khujand to share international best practices of using domestic legal mechanisms to elicit official reactions in cases of torture and ill-treatment. Through a programme jointly organized by the UK Embassy and the Office, a renowned penal reform expert shared her expertise with government officials, civil society representatives and law students specializing in corrections policy. Through the provision of training and expert consultations for 30 members of the Coalition for the Prevention of Torture, the Legal-Judicial Reform Unit, together with several members of the Ombudsman’s staff, strengthened the capacity of civil society organizations to design and implement human rights monitoring projects with the goal of assessing the situation of rights observance in closed institutions. Human rights monitoring projects designed during the training were going to be conducted jointly by civil society and the Ombudsman’s Office in the first half of 2012 in order to prepare a report to the UN Committee against Torture. Trafficking in Human Beings The previous National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking expired at the end of 2010 and a new plan was adopted by the Government of Tajikistan in March 2011, covering the period 2011-2013. The Government of Tajikistan's Inter-Agency Commission to Combat Human Trafficking extended an invitation to the Office to participate in the working groups developing the country's second National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking and, subsequently, the set-up of a National Referral Mechanism. The 13-member Working Group included government representatives, among them MIA officials, who had earlier taken part in OSCE anti-trafficking training, and also civil society representatives. The Human Dimension Department’s Gender and Anti-trafficking Unit submitted detailed recommendations for the new draft Action Plan and, after its adoption, supported its translation into the Russian and English languages; and jointly with the U.S. Embassy and the IOM, supported its trilingual publication in 500 copies. 119