From 2022 to 2025, the Foundation and its partners will conduct research and implement joint activities for greater fulfilment of the Kyrgyz Republic’s environmental, privacy and women’s rights commitments.
Together with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and two local Kyrgyz organisations specialised in environmental and women’s rights respectively, the Max Planck Foundation publicly launched its project Monitoring for Justice – Strengthening Civil Society in Promoting Human Rights in Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek on 18 November 2022. The project aims to strengthen the role of civil society in monitoring and advocating for legal reforms and protecting human rights in Kyrgyzstan.
Rapid changes in the Kyrgyz legal and political system over the course of recent decades have not always been paralleled by progressive development in human rights protection, despite the state’s constitutional and treaty commitments. Journalists, legal professionals and activists have emerged as a crucial social force to drive change and the project activities will seek to support them in their causes.
Prominent figures and advocates for better rights protection took the stage at the event, among them the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Kyrgyz Republic, Emil Oskonbaev, as well as the Deputy Ombudsman of the Kyrgyz Republic, Albert Kolopov, and the Program Manager of the European Union Delegation, Yotam Lerer.
Participants to the proceedings included representatives of Kyrgyz state and non-state organizations as well as academics, who concluded the event with a panel discussion on the challenges faced in the country.
The Foundation is convinced that, in co-operation with its partners, positive change can be brought about by lending its technical support to the decision-makers and engaged citizens of Kyrgyzstan in their aspirations to better enforce the promises of rights and freedoms for the Kyrgyz people, present and future.
The proceedings were part of the project Monitoring for Justice – Strengthening Civil Society in Promoting Human Rights in Kyrgyzstan, funded by the European Union.