On 10-13 May 2022, the team members of the Action “HELP in Central Asia” implemented in the framework of the joint European Union-Council of Europe Central Asia Rule of Law Programme visited Tajikistan to promote co-operation in raising awareness on European human rights standards among legal professionals. In series of meetings with authorities, the team used an occasion to discuss human rights training and expertise-sharing activities to be organised in Tajikistan in 2022.

The Action’s team met in particular with representatives of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tajikistan and its Centre of in-service training for judges; the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Tajikistan and the Prosecutor’s Training Institute; the Ombudsman’s office of the Republic of Tajikistan; the Parliament of the Republic of Tajikistan, as well as leading human rights NGOs, including the Civil Society Coalition against Torture, and international organisations present in Dushanbe. All interlocutors showed a genuine interest in offering HELP online courses for different target groups after their adaptation to Tajikistan’s context and translation into Tajik language.

A public lecture on the European Convention on Human Rights for 45 students of the law faculty of Tajikistan National University and one-day seminar for 27 Tajikistan’s lawyers on the right to a fair trial in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights marked the launch of co-operation. The Chairman of the Union of lawyers of the Republic of Tajikistan, Mr Saidbek Nuritdinov, underlined the relevance of the seminar and of the joint European Union/Council of Europe Central Asia Rule of Law Programme in general, emphasising importance of engaging lawyers from the regions of Tajikistan and organising more thematic seminars and events.

The activities were organised in the framework of the Action "HELP in Central Asia" within the Central Asia Rule of Law Programme 2020-2023 which is a joint initiative, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe. “HELP in Central Asia” aims at improving knowledge and skills of justice professionals in the area of human rights and ensuring the application of human rights principles in their daily work in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.