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» Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel
   
# 193
May 30, 2003

In this issue:


UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

  • Seminar on Gender Expertise

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND (UNICEF)

  • Getting children out of institutions into family care

UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR)

  • The Fourth Voluntary Repatriation of Afghan Refugees

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION (IOM)

  • The Government and local state authorities are ready to collaborate with IOM to assist victims of trafficking
  • Combating trafficking with internationally adopted laws

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

On 14 -16 May UNDP Social Governance Programme in cooperation with the Secretariat of the National Council on Women, Family and Gender Development under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Independent Lawyers’ Association and the Institute of Equal Rights and Opportunities held a three days training seminar on Gender Expertise of Legislation and National Programs of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The seminar was attended by 34 lawyers of the President’s Administration, Legislative Assembly of Jogorku Kenesh (the Parliament), Ombudsman Office, the Office of Public Prosecutor, the Ministry of Justice and other ministries and agencies.

Currently the government institutions at all levels are actively implementing the National Action Plan for Gender Development for 2002 – 2006. The Law on the Basics of State Guarantees of Gender Equality, which envisages the legal gender expertise, came into force in the early 2003 to examine and identify gender inequality inconsistencies in laws and other legal acts. It provides for favourable conditions for gender expertise. However, the gender expertise mechanism has not been officially adopted as well as any concrete state structures responsible have been appointed yet. At the end of the seminar the participants discussed possible solutions for finding appropriate solutions to these problems.

The specialists of the Independent Lawyers Association, the Centre of Gender Studies and the Diamond Association together with participants developed the draft resolution on the procedure and the mechanism of legal gender expertise of legislation. I will be presented to the members of the National Council on Women, Family and Gender Development under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic. Further the special by-law will be developed, which would assign legal gender expertise to government officials and agencies. UNDP in its turn would provide adequate training on the methodology of the legal gender expertise.

For additional information please contact: Ainura Kypchakbaeva, Cluster Task Manager; UNDP Social Governance Programme. Phone: (996 312) 66 38 85, 66 04 18; e-mail:

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND (UNICEF)

Getting children out of institutions into family care. Representatives of the UNICEF Office in the Kyrgyz Republic together with officials of the Government, civil society and research community took part in the second International Conference on Children and Residential Care – New Strategies for a New Millennium. It was held in Stockholm 12-15 May 2003 and sponsored by the Swedish Foreign Ministry and the Swedish International Development and Co-operation Agency (SIDA).

The Conference brought together about 600 representatives from 80 countries. All of them prepared their country reports. During the round table they discussed the most important challenges, accomplishments and main objectives to improve the situation of children in long term residential care in their respective countries.

In its presentation the Kyrgyz Delegation outlined “New Generation” State Programme on the implementation of rights of Children of Kyrgyzstan. One of the Programme’s main areas is Family Environment and Alternative Care. As part of it, a system of social and family support services is developed. The fundamental difficulty during the formation of the new system lies in old way of thinking, capacity gaps and lack of resources. Therefore, this process is being led on project basis: from pilot projects (with targeted effects) and approbation of basic principles of the Programme to the spreading of experience to the whole republic.

There is indisputable evidence that institutional care has negative consequences for both individual children and for society at large. Deprived of a family environment, children receive less stimulation, individual attention and love. Their lives are often lived in a parallel world that does not prepare them for life elsewhere, or for healthy social interaction. Their voices are not heard. The society, it in its turn, generates discrimination by tacitly approving for the idea that certain groups of children, whether orphaned, abandoned, living with disabilities, from families affected by AIDS or by poverty, should live apart from society. Besides, institutions are always an expensive proposition. Allocated differently, these resources could provide the services needed to help families keep their children with them, and thus build communities.

These negative consequences could be prevented through the adaptation of national strategies to support families and children, by exploring the benefits of various types of community based care, by reducing the use of institutions, by setting standards for public care and monitoring of the remaining institutions.

The participants declared themselves committed to work towards the following principles:

  • Preventing children form being deprived of family care in the first case by fighting discrimination and by supporting appropriate family services.
  • Resorting to institutional care only as a last resort and as a temporary response.
  • Developing, financing, implementing and monitoring alternative systems of care based on the principles of providing children with a family environment.
  • Regulating and monitoring and any remaining institutions for children in public care in line with agreed international and national standards and the Convention of the Rights of the Child.
  • In all actions reflect the voice of youth and secure participation from children and families affected.

These principles together with actions, roles of civil society, research community and funding partners entered formed a Stockholm Declaration. It will constitutes another tool to advocate for increasing investments in children and placing children on top of development strategies in the country.

For additional information please contact: Richard Young, Resident Representative. Phone: (996 312) 61 12 24, 61 12 25; e-mail:

UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR)

The Fourth Voluntary Repatriation of Afghan Refugees. On 26 May, nine Afghan refugees (two families), who have voluntarily chosen to return to their homes in Afghanistan, have departed Bishkek on their way home. UNHCR Office of the Chief of Mission in Kyrgyzstan provided free and safe transportation for the families and their belongings, and gave a cash grant in the amount of $20 per person.

The Afghan returnees will be escorted by UNHCR throughout their journey to the Uzbek-Afghan border. Their road trip will require passing through territories of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan to Mazari-Sharif town in North Afghanistan. In Mazari-Sharif they will receive food and non-food relief items in order to help them for the first few weeks. Those returnees whose houses are located in other parts of Afghanistan will be provided with transportation to their final destination.

UNHCR would like to thank the Kyrgyz Government, Embassies of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for their support in helping these individuals to return home.

Voluntary repatriation, along with local integration and resettlement to a third country, is one of the durable solutions that UNHCR strives to achieve for all refugees and asylum-seekers worldwide. Currently, there are about 750 Afghan refugees who have found asylum in Kyrgyzstan in the wake of civil wars in Afghanistan. In 2002, the UNCHR office in Kyrgyzstan helped 66 Afghans to return to Afghanistan. By the end of this year it is expected that more Afghan refugees with UNHCR assistance will return back to their country of origin.

For additional information please contact: Gulzat Aitimbetova, UNHCR. Phone: (996 312) 61 12 64, 61 12 65; e-mail:

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION (IOM)

The KR Government and local state authorities are ready to collaborate with IOM to assist victims of trafficking. On May 20, 2003, the Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Kyrgyz Republic (KR) together with the National Council under the President’s Administration of the KR for combating trafficking in and smuggling of persons, conducted a workshop on how to counteract trafficking in persons and give assistance to victims of trafficking, organized for representatives of state authorities. The workshop held within the framework of the project on assistance to victims of trafficking, funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) is aimed at consolidating of efforts and developing mechanisms of government entities, parliament and local authorities in combating trafficking in and smuggling of persons in the KR.

Approximately 70 representatives from parliament, government, various ministries, departments, and local state authorities were introduced to the mechanisms and processes of trafficking in persons, and they discussed preventive measures along with issues on assistance to victims of trafficking. International experts from Ukraine shared their country’s experience in combating trafficking and suggested recommendations on changing and amendments to the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic. The participants were also told about measures, taken by the National Council and IOM in this field. Discussion of specific trafficking cases and group-working sessions enabled the participants to consider taking joint steps in order to prevent smuggling of and trafficking in persons as well as assistance to victims of trafficking.

“The workshop was successful and proved the readiness of the state and local authorities to coordinate their efforts in combating the smuggling of and trafficking in persons”, noted Mr. Chenais, Officer-in-Charge of the IOM Mission in the KR.

Combating trafficking with internationally adopted laws. From May 19 to 21 the National Council under the President’s Administration of the Kyrgyz Republic (KR) for combating trafficking in and smuggling of persons and the Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the KR, together with international experts analyzed a project on amendments to existing legislation of the KR in the counter trafficking field. It was done within the framework of technical cooperation between IOM and the Government of the KR in combating trafficking in and smuggling of persons with the purpose of ensuring that these amendments comply with international standards and appropriate international practice in the area of trafficking.

The National Council consists of representatives from various ministries and departments. It was established by the Presidential Decree “On measures to combat trafficking in and smuggling of persons in the KR”, dated April 21, 2002. Action and working plans for 2003-2004 to combat trafficking in the country was elaborated in accordance with this decree. On July 11 2002, a group of lawyer-experts, represented by the General Prosecutors office, the Ministry of Justice, and Foreign and Internal Affairs studied and analyzed the current legislation of the KR in trafficking fields, in order to elaborate amendments with their further adoption into the existing legislation in accordance with international standards.

After almost one year’s hard work, the group of lawyer-experts prepared a package of elaborated amendments in trafficking fields of the Kyrgyz legislation, which has been successfully approved by the Government and Parliament of the KR. This package is currently being evaluated based on international legal expertise. Experts from Ukraine, who are highly qualified in trafficking related areas, were invited by the National Council in order to provide all conceivable assistance on newly drawn amendments and introduce an international and Ukraine’s experience on counter trafficking to the members of the Legislative House of the Parliament and representatives of law enforcement agencies of the KR. At present, Ukraine has significant positive experience in trafficking prevention, which is internationally recognized as one of the highest in the world.

International experts from Ukraine have given the project of suggested amendments a high assessment on and noticed that it will improve the national legislation as in the spirit of the UN Convention on combating transnational organized crime, signed by the KR in 2000.

For additional information please contact: Frederic Chanais, Officer-in-Charge, IOM. Phone: (996 312) 65 17 30, 65 17 31, 65 17 32; e-mail:


     Millennium Development Goals Progress Report - 2003

     Common Country Assessment - 2003

 
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