On 7-9 February 2024, judges from several city courts and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan as well as representatives of the judicial administration and the Ministry of Justice carried out a study visit in the headquarters of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

The Kazakh delegation received first-hand knowledge of the work of Council of Europe bodies such as the Consultative Council of European Judges, the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, the Group of States against Corruption, as well as the  European Commission for Democracy Through Law.

The participants also had the opportunity to visit the European Court of Human Rights to deepen their knowledge of the Court’s functioning, its case-law and the execution of its judgements.

On 8 February, the participants were introduced to the self-paced or tutored courses of the Council of Europe Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) which covers a wide range of human rights issues. The HELP courses aim to enhance the judges’ knowledge on international and Council of Europe standards, and to enable them to apply these standards in their daily work.

During the meetings, other perspectives of bilateral cooperation were discussed, in particular in the framework of the “Neighbourhood Co-operation Priorities with Kazakhstan for 2024-2027” adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 18 October 2023.

The activity was organised by the action "HELP in Central Asia" in the framework of the Central Asia Rule of Law Programme 2020-2024, a joint initiative co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.