From May 18-25, the Border Management Programme in Central Asia organised national workshops for the law enforcement agencies of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on human rights and gender issues. The workshops promoted and fostered the assurance of legal guarantees and human rights protection in the law enforcement system, its democratisation and the implementation of preventive measures against gender-based violence.

The experts from State Border Guard Service, under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania and Lithuanian Red Cross, presented the international legal framework on the human rights protection, the European system of human rights in the asylum procedure, migration detention and alternative means to detention. They shared their knowledge on identifying vulnerable persons and signs of gender-based violence in the context of migration, and specifics of their protection, including the NGOs’ role in assisting such cases.  

The participants learned about the definition of human rights and the key regulatory documents, they studied legal instruments for assisting people who have been subjected to gender-based violence, and practiced this knowledge during real-life situational exercises.

As a result of the workshop, a booklet with a brief description of human rights and gender issues will be developed. The booklet’s target objective is the enhancement of education and training of law enforcement officers in the countries of Central Asia.