"We welcome and thank Ambassador von Arx and his colleagues
for their report to the Permanent Council and the work they
have undertaken at the Programme Office in Bishkek over the
last year.
Kyrgyzstan is an important partner to the UK. We recognise
the role Kyrgyzstan has played – supported by the work of
the Programme Office – in implementing the Electoral
Legislation Improvement Strategy 2018-20. I was pleased to
read about the concrete results they have achieved.
It is good that the OSCE Academy has continued its
development. This flagship initiative is an important
resource in building long-term security, as now more than
500 post-graduates, educated in the areas of politics,
security and governance, can meaningfully contribute to
protecting their region’s prosperity and development. I
wish the Academy every continued success.
Mr Chair, I would like to pick out three areas of the
Office’s work that I think deserve special mention.
First on transnational threats. We support the mission’s
activities on capacity building for law enforcement and
border service officers; on legal assistance; and on draft
regulation development. In addition, I would like to
mention important work on cyber security, and in particular
the training courses offered on cybersecurity for the
Computer Emergency Response Teams staff, as well as the
organising of Barrier 2019.
Second, on the work on the third dimension. I thank the
Ambassador for his team’s work supporting the Ministry of
Culture, Information and Tourism in launching a
co-ordination platform to discuss common challenges in
media freedom. This includes the proliferation of
disinformation. We would like to see a continued guarantee
of a free, open and secure internet, including ensuring
freedom of expression online. We would also like to see the
Kyrgyz government recognise the important role
non-commercial organisations play in a democratic society
and hope they can work with the OSCE to ensure that the
proposed amendments to the law on non-commercial
organisations are in line with international human rights
norms.
Third, I would like to pay tribute to the
gender-mainstreaming efforts undertaken by his team, and
the specific work done to progress gender equality. This
includes supporting the implementation of the Electoral
Legislation Improvement Strategy 2018-2020, which ensures a
30 per cent gender quota in local councils; and the
expansion of the Women Initiative Groups to improve women’s
participation and combat gender-based and domestic
violence. Tackling violence against women and girls is
essential in defending human rights and reducing
inequality.
Further, I was heartened to read about the improved
monitoring and evaluation methods employed, so that
concrete results can be better identified. I would
encourage you to share this best practice and promote the
effect of your operation so that we rightly recognise the
good work done by your mission.
I would like to finish by thanking Ambassador von Arx for
his leadership of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek over
the last four years, as well as his chairing of the Board
of Trustees of the OSCE Academy, and I wish him all the
best for the future."
