Police Reform

The 7th Police Reform Steering Group Meeting

There was a regular Police Reform Steering Group meeting today, 16 May 2014, in the conference hall of the Department of State Traffic Inspection of the MIA of the Republic of Tajikistan.

The meeting has involved participation of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan - Lieutenant General Rahimzoda Ramazoni Hamro, the Chairperson of the Police Reform Steering Group and the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs - Major General Ikrom Umarov, the Police Reform National Coordinator - Colonel Zumrad Solieva, the heads of the MIA departments and independent units, the representatives from the MIA Academy, the Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan (OiT) Mr. Markus Mueller, Acting Head of Politico-Military Department of the OSCE OiT Mr. Erdal Duzdaban, the Head of the Independent Human Rights Protection Centre - Chairperson of the “Civil Society Assistance to Police Reform” Working Group Mr. Sergey Romanov, his Deputy Mr. Vatan Abdurakhmanov, the OSCE OiT Police Reform national team and other representatives of the Embassies and International Organizations, accredited in the Republic of Tajikistan.

The approved Police Reform Program of Tajikistan for the period of 2014-2020, its Implementation Plan, draft Provision of Public Council on the Civil Society Assistance to the Police Reform, as well as presentations and speeches of the heads of the MIA Directorates, National Police Reform Coordinator, and Acting Head of Politico-Military Department of the OSCE OiT were presented at the meeting.

Minister Rahimzoda Ramazon has expressed his gratitude to the OSCE OiT for providing continuous support to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RT. He shared the news that the Police Reform Program and its Implementation Plan were approved by the Decree of the Republic of Tajikistan, #296, on 3 May 2014. The Minister noted that "... the police reform depends on those, who will work in the MIA system, thus a reorganization of the vocational training system for the MIA personnel is required. One can achieve the goals and objectives of police reform thanks to the competence and professionalism of the police staff." Further Lieutenant General Rahimzoda stressed that a number of activities associated with the media, interaction of Police with the Community (Community Policing), Voluntary Police and “Neighbourhood Watch”, accountability of Chiefs of Police to the population and arrangement of public monitoring of the police activity were conducted supported by the OSCE and other international organizations. He also noted that according to the Croatian best practices, a Chief Inspector will be appointed by and accountable to the Minister of Internal Affairs of RT.

Then the Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan Markus Mueller, in his opening speech has mentioned that the "core of police reform in Tajikistan is building a partnership with the civil society, revival of confidence in the police by the community and citizens. All activities incorporated into the Programme in this area are aimed at building an entirely new image of a police officer, who is free from corruption and motivated to provide support and assistance to the communities and citizens. Therefore the National police reform team had developed a draft Provision of the Public Council on Civil Society Assistance to Police Reform, which we will consider today, at the regular Police Reform Steering Group meeting. Upon approval of the Provision such Councils will be created in Dushanbe, in the regional centres and in Rasht. It will enable citizens to be involved directly and indirectly in the discussion of the police reform process at its different stages, bringing their requests (expectations) and suggestions on this subject to the attention of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, and to control the records of public demand for police reform."

"I think that the Public Council will play its role in the ongoing campaign on elimination of torture and on use of disproportionate physical force by police officers in preventing crime or in detention of citizens, conducted by the Minister of internal Affairs. Then, the police officers will consider the use of torture as a flagrant violation of human rights, which cannot be justified under any circumstances," added Ambassador Mueller.

The Head of the OSCE OiT has informed that the OSCE Office in collaboration with national stakeholders has proceeded with implementation of a project on installation of two-way mirror for identification and interviewing in the premises of the MIA, General Prosecutor's Office and State Committee on National Security, in full accordance with international standards. He elaborated that within the framework of the project the OSCE OiT together with the General Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Court intends to develop a Manual on procedures of detention and delivering of suspects in committing illegal acts to the internal affairs bodies. Within the pilot project in Shohmansur Police Department, the OSCE will test a practice of detainees’ delivery to specially designated room, where the whole custodial process, interviews and other pre-investigative actions will be under video surveillance. It will enable to eliminate the use of torture and other illegal methods and techniques towards to detainees.

The floor was given to Ms. Zumrad Solieva who made a presentation on the draft Provision of Public Council on the Civil Society Assistance to the Police Reform.

During the discussion of the draft Provision, Mr. Sergey Romanov has thanked the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the OSCE OiT for development of the Provision of the Public Council. He said that "despite the fact that the Public Councils are in the process of establishment, but already today we can see positive steps – a public monitoring is ongoing." He has expressed his gratitude to the Minister of Internal Affairs for his support in this matter.

Mr. Vatan Abdurakhmanov made a remark that everything will be improved in the process of activities. He has suggested adopting the Provision of the Public Council so that already now the Public Council could participate in the police reform process.

The Ambassador of Kazakhstan H.E. Smagulov Agybay made comments regarding the draft Provision of the Public Council, which will be submitted later to the MIA in written form.

Mr. Erdal Duzdaban has told about the Community Policing Strategy, which is taken as a basis while drafting the OSCE document "Good Practices in Building Police-Public Partnerships." He added that the UN General Assembly Resolution on adoption of the Code of Conduct of officials for the public order reads: "... every law enforcement agency should represent the public as a whole and be liable, responsible and accountable to it." As Mr. Duzdaban clarified, it supposes that the police should cooperate with those, for whom it serves, i.e. with the citizens in order to determine the goals of the work together with those, for whose benefit it acts. The concept of community policing requires an active interaction with the public, the emphasis on the prevention of crime, rather than on their investigation.

According to the agenda, Mr. Umarov Ikrom made a presentation on Police Reform Program and its Implementation Plan, as well as the establishment of donor mechanism.

Further Alisher Rabiev Deputy Head of the MIA Information and Analytical Center, made a presentation on the MIA project "Electronic system of registration and accounting of crimes,” which according to him will be a real step to ensure access to justice.

In conclusion of the meeting, the Head of the OSCE OiT asked all present to provide assistance in the implementation of the Police Reform Program and Plan for its implementation. The OSCE OiT, in its turn, will create a donor mechanism to coordinate assistance, but without any interfering into the activities of these donor organizations. In its turn, the Office will also assist in the implementation of the Police Reform Program, as I mentioned earlier, from the approved Unified budget and contributions from the OSCE participating States.

During the meeting it was decided to adopt the draft Provision of the Public Council on the Civil Society Assistance to Police Reform as a basis, and to task the Police Reform Working Group to finalize the draft and submit it to the Minister of Internal Affairs for approval before 1 August 2014.