The FINANCIAL — BISHKEK. Policing in multi-ethnic societies is the focus of an OSCE-supported train-the-trainers workshop for Kyrgyzstan police officers which started in Bishkek on May 24.
"During the four-day workshop, experts of the local non-governmental organization Social Technologies Agency will equip 15 police officers with the knowledge and tools needed to operate in a multi-ethnic society, to increase their sensitivity to minority concerns and, ultimately, to improve their operational effectiveness. The trainees will subsequently deliver training sessions to police officers from Kyrgyzstan's Chui and Talas provinces," OSCE informs.
"Kyrgyzstan has a large number of multi-ethnic communities. It is important to integrate multi-ethnic policing principles in the daily work of local community police officers as a mechanism to help prevent conflict," said Lilian Dari, the Deputy Head of the OSCE centre in Bishkek.
The OSCE Centre in Bishkek, Social Technologies Agency and Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Interior also developed a manual, Addressing interethnic relations by police officers, which includes references to the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities recommendations on policing in multi-ethnic societies. The manual will be used by trainers to teach community police officers in the two target provinces.
"I am pleased that the community policing initiatives developed with the support of the OSCE pay due attention to inter-ethnic relations. The Ministry of Interior is focusing on building confidence in multi-ethnic communities and such training programmes should ensure that the principles of multi-ethnicity are better addressed in community policing practices," said Kashkar Jushunaliev, Kyrgyzstan's Deputy Minster of Interior.
