Ombuds of Central Asia discuss human rights co-op prospects

The meeting agenda included the issues concerning the protection of the rights of older persons and persons with special needs.

National human rights defenders from 117 countries participated in the event. There, the Kazakh Ombudsman made his colleagues familiar with the main aspects of the modernization of the state and society in Kazakhstan and shared his institution's experience.

In addition, a side event on the regional partnership between the Central Asian national human rights institutions (CASINHRI) was held with the participation of ombudsmen from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Such format of cooperation was initiated by the Kazakhstan Ombudsman institution with the support from the above-mentioned international organizations.

The first working meeting of Central Asian ombudsman institutions was held in November 2017 in Almaty, where the sides reached an agreement on developing a joint action roadmap.

This meeting in Geneva has set the future base for the cooperation. The participants agreed to regularly hold regional meetings on the protection of the rights of migrant children in Central Asia.

It is worth mentioning that the intensification of cooperation between the National Human Rights Institutions of the countries of the region is undisputedly in line with the forthcoming meeting of the leaders of the Central Asian states to be held in Kazakhstan in March this year.