Police Reform

Meeting of the National Team with Sub-Working Group “Civil Society Assistance to Police Reform”

From 21 to 24 August 2013 National Police Reform Project Officer Mr. Firdavs Odinaev and Head of the Independent Human Rights Center Mr. Sergey Romanov, who is in the meantime the Chairperson of the Civil Society’s Working Group (CSsWG) on Police Reform, visited Kulyab, Kurgan-Tyube, Gharm, and Shaartuz.

The purpose of the visits was to meet with Sub-Working Group, composed from the Civil Society Advisory Group (SWGCS), which was established in April 2013 to encourage more active engagement and participation of communities in the process of police reform management. Field trips to regions were organized jointly with the Chairperson of the SWGCS. During the meetings, the National Police Reform Project Officer have informed the participants about latest updates on Police Reform activities and projects, which will be implemented in the future through active participation and assistance of civil society to law enforcement agencies.

During the meeting with public organizations, Mr. Sergey Romanov have presented the results of monitoring of internal affairs stations in Soghd and Khtalon regions, as well as in GBAO (Mountainous Badakhshan Autonomous Region), which were organized together with other partners from CIS. In his speech, Mr. Romanov has informed the participants about work of police staff during duty service, about the way how they deal with citizens’ claims (petitions), and provide an access for citizens to information in local police stations.

The OSCE OiT representative also reminded the civil society organizations on their role in drafting the Community Policing Concept, public safety and decrease of crime rates, which will be discussed during the republican roundtable of the Working Group “Civil Society Assistance to Police Reform.” It is envisaged to establish a Republican Council “Civil Society Assistance to Police Reform,” to assist the state policy in implementing police reform process, as it is stated in the Provision about Sub-Working Group “Civil Society Assistance to Police Reform.” The abovementioned roundtable is planned for October 2013 with participation of all public organizations, created in administrative centers of Tajikistan. Police Reform National Officer also mentioned to participants that a Working Group (WG) on Civil Society assistance to Police Reform was created in compliance to the WG Provision. Mainly, it is responsible for drafting of key legal acts, in Community Policing, in establishing of public and administrative relations, in calling for transparency in police structures, and in protection of human rights and freedoms of citizens of Tajikistan.

One of the key duties of the Working Group is an independent monitoring of police activities in the fields to identify and prevent crimes, and to develop an action plan for public control over illegal actions of police staff.

The OSCE OiT Officer also assured the Working Group that the OSCE in its turn will continue debates to strengthen cooperation between community and police, by integrating the policy of open cooperation, which will be a required prerequisite for establishing further partnership, and at the same time guaranteeing the citizens their constitutional rights, freedom and protection of public order. If community cooperates with police, it would lead to the decrease of crime rates in the country and to increase the number of solved criminal cases. 

During the discussions, civil society organizations have suggested to disseminate an accurate information in due time on the activities of the MIA in terms of developing the police reform program. It was also suggested to keep informed all internal and external stakeholders about concrete work and direction of the proposed ways for the police reform. It should be done not only through police reform and MIA websites, but also through brochures, mass media and other means of communication due to the absence of access to the Internet in some regions.