DUSHANBE, May 25, 2016, Asia-Plus — Penal Reform International office in Central Asia and Legal Initiative Public Fund jointly with Coalition of NGOs Against Torture in Tajikistan with the financial support of
the European Union and
Open Society Institute – Assistance Foundation in Tajikistan is hosting a training on preclusion and prevention of torture and ill-treatment against children in closed and semi-closed institutions of Tajikistan.
A three-day Workshop that kicked off today has brought together representatives of the Commission for Rights of the Child under the Executive Bodies from four regions of Tajikistan and city of Dushanbe, representatives of the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Tajikistan, Children’s Ombudsman and NGOs.
Within the framework of the workshop the participants are reportedly discussing national and international mechanisms of preventing violence and ill-treatment against children in the institutions, reviewing the toolkit to reveal child ill-treatment instances and exchanging practices on comprehensive and efficient rehabilitation of violence victims.
The trainers of the workshop are: International Expert in psychology – Lillit Gevorkyan from Armenia, National Expert on Protection and Promotion of the Rights of the Child in Tajikistan – Dilbar Turakhonova and National Expert on Istanbul Protocol implementation – Parvina Navrouzova.
The training is held under a three-year project of PRI focused on elimination of violence against children in closed institutions in Central Asia, implemented in Tajikistan jointly with Legal Initiative Public Fund with the support of the European Union.
43% of children who participated in PRI survey “Voice of the Child” in 2015 have reportedly stated they felt safe at police station. A third of respondent children noted bad treatment; overwhelming majority said they have been verbally abused. One boy complained about minor physical violence while another complained about grave physical violence. However, none of children who reported use of violence against them notified any adult about mistreatment because they were sure no one would believe them.
The Special Rapporteur on Torture has drafted an additional report in 2015 where he reflected repeatedly his concerns with “… reports that children in conflict with the law are subjected to ill-treatment during arrest and at various staged of detention”.
