Capacity building of local staff
The capacity building of local staff for development and implementation of effective policy in the area of human rights protection and facilitating trainings and practices on combatting terrorism in Tajikistan. The OSCE Office on Democratic Institutes and Human Rights (ODIHR) assists participating States in strengthening their compliance with international human rights standards in the context of counter terrorism.
Thus, a training module on counter terrorism and human rights was developed within the ODIHR program, as well the main roster of experts, namely, the manual “Counter terrorism and Human Rights Protection” (which is available both in Russian and English). The curriculum envisages comprehensive recommendations on fundamental international principles in the area of human rights and the standards for high-level policy makes, government officials and practitioners. The manual, which contains the description of applicable standards on human rights and best practical knowledge on counter terrorism, serves both as an independent resource for experts in the area of development and implementation of strategies, and as a supplementary reference for ODIHR curriculum. Altogether, they ensure a strong basis for the key course in this area.
In this regard, the ODIHR has conducted a number of events in the Central Asia that contributed states to realize the necessity of promotion and protection of human rights in prevention and countering terrorism. In April and December 2009, the Human Rights and Counter Terrorism programs in co-operation with the OSCE offices in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have held two roundtables, dedicated to understanding and addressing the challenges of violent extremism and radicalism, leading to terrorism in these countries.
Moreover, in December 2009 the ODIHR and the OSCE Office in Tajikistan (OiT) have jointly organized the training on human rights and counter terrorism for teachers of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and of the Higher School of the State Committee on National Security. It has got a positive feedback from the participants. They have expressed their interest and readiness for future co-operation on these issues, and asked the OSCE to provide further assistance in the development and implementation of the training module on human rights and terrorism in order to integrate it into the standard curriculum of the MIA Academy.
Thus, the ODIHR and the OSCE OiT had closely collaborated to develop the project, based on local needs and conditions, and coordinated its different stages and events in July and December of 2010. During the project development and needs assessment, the MIA Academy has reiterated its commitment to cooperate on the project implementation.
The project is being implemented in a close cooperation with the OSCE OiT, and therefore, supplements specific events, which are conducted by this organization in the country. Namely, the project relies on the broad knowledge, gained during the implementation of the counter terrorism and police reform program, on local peculiarities while countering terrorism, as well as on already established relations with key national partners.
The project is aimed at design of a special course on human rights and counter terrorism for its further integration with the curriculum of the MIA Academy and the Higher School of the State Committee on National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan. This project depends on close cooperation of representatives from the law enforcement educational institutions in the training development tailored to local needs and conditions. Therefore, a working group, composed of 10 representatives from the MIA Academy and Training Center, as well as the Higher School of the State Committee on National Security was established. It is responsible for drafting a course and relevant training materials with the support of the ODIHR program on human rights and counter terrorism, and the OSCE OiT.
A number of activities was conducted to assist the working group members in development of course, such as “Training of trainers,” workshop on drafting the curriculum (June 2011), the experts meeting to review the draft course materials (October 2011 and February 2012), study tour to Croatia (January 2012), workshop on completing the course materials (August 2012), revision and written comments on draft course materials (during the whole project) and pilot training sessions in the MIA Academy and in the Higher School of the State Committee on National Security (November 2012).
A course on human rights in the context of counter terrorism was developed as a project outcome, which had to be taught to final-year students (5th year) of the MIA Academy and the Higher School of State Committee on National Security. Both educational institutions plan to introduce the course into their regular curriculum as a special course. According to the plan, starting from 2013, the course will be taught for the students of abovementioned institutions.
This project is a key part of the ODIHR to support the OSCE participating States in creation of strong curriculums on human rights and counter terrorism in the MIA Academy, courts, and other relevant agencies. It was implemented in close collaboration with the OSCE OiT, therefore, supplements specific activities within the country. In particular, the project was developed based on the broad knowledge, gained in the result of the counter terrorism and police program concerning local peculiarities on countering terrorism, as well as on already established relations with key national partners.
