Newsletter No.2|April 2021

The second newsletter provides the recent developments of the Actions implemented under the Central Asia Rule of Law Programme during the period of January-March 2021.

Common legal space and enhancing human rights protection

The team is continuing to enhance a dialogue on human rights protection in the Central Asian countries. Under the Action

HELP in Central Asia (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals), the following activities have taken place:

UZBEKISTAN: in the course of a co-ordination meeting with the OSCE in Uzbekistan, the parties agreed on adapting and translating the HELP course “Rights of Persons with Disabilities” into Uzbek language. Translation and adaptation of this course is currently being discussed between two parties.
KAZAKHSTAN: a meeting with representatives of the Consulate General of the Republic of Kazakhstan was organised to discuss partnership and mutual support in the framework of the HELP in Central Asia.
TAJIKISTAN: a meeting with the Human Rights Center of Tajikistan was held with a view to present the HELP in Central Asia and identify possible ways for co-operation.

Fighting economic crime

Active work with the authorities of the Central Asian countries has been carried out in the framework of the Actio “Promoting Transparency and Action against Economic Crime (CA TAEC)”:

UZBEKISTAN: a meeting with the authorities of Uzbekistan with the aim of revising and improving the legislative framework on corruption prevention and development of the anti-corruption legislation.
KYRGYZ REPUBLIC: a webinar on the Council of Europe legal documents and monitoring mechanisms in anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism activities.
TURKMENISTAN: a co-ordination meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan on identifying common priorities and ways for effective co-operation in the areas of business integrity, fight against corruption, anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing.

Webinar on the Council of Europe legal instruments and monitoring mechanisms for the Kyrgyz authorities

Co-ordination meeting with the authorities of Turkmenistan in identifying ways for effective co-operation in AML/CFT

Institutional support

In the first quarter of 2021, the Venice Commission continued to provide its support to the partner countries in Central Asia on a demand driven basis namely with two requests for legal opinions from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Republic.

KAZAKHSTAN: the Chair of the Constitutional Council Mr. K. Mami requested the Venice Commission’s opinion on the Concept Paper regarding the improving of the legal framework of the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan and the effectiveness of the Council’s decisions. To support the discussion around the concept paper the Venice Commission organised in co-operation with the Constitutional Council an international round table on 26th February 2021 entitled “Referral of cases to the Constitutional Council by the ordinary courts”.
KYRGYZ REPUBLIC: The Venice Commission continued to follow the constitutional developments in Kyrgyz Republic. At the request of OSCE/ODIHR, the Commission prepared a Joint Opinion on the draft constitution of the country which was adopted during the plenary session in March 2021.
TURKMENISTAN, UZBEKISTAN: co-ordination meetings were organised with the authorities of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan allowing to discuss further bilateral co-operation and implementation modalities.

International round table “Referral of cases to the Constitutional Council by the ordinary courts” in Kazakhstan

Meeting with the Ombudsman of Kyrgyz Republic and representatives of civil society organisations

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This newsletter was produced with the financial support of the European Union and the Council of Europe. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the author(s). The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of either party.

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