DUSHANBE, April 4, 2011, Asia-Plus — A ceremony of signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Government of Tajikistan and the OSCE on supporting Tajik police reform is expected to take place at the Ministry of Interior of Tajikistan in Dushanbe on April 8, the source at the OSCE Office in Tajikistan said.
“The Government of Tajikistan has asked the OSCE to help assess the Interior Ministry’s requirements in development of police skills and structures and after almost two-year work, the OSCE assessment team has worked out a draft MoU on supporting Tajikistan’s police reform,” the source said.
It is to be noted that the OSCE Office in Tajikistan has always provided consultative and technical support to the Tajik Interior Ministry to develop police activity in line with democratic principles.
Thus, the OSCE Office jointly with the Tajik Interior Ministry implemented the program for destruction of small arms and light weapons (SALW) as well as conventional ammunition and improvement of the country”s stockpile security and management systems. A number of national experts were trained in explosive ordnance disposal, and an explosive ordnance destruction facility and a SALW destruction facility were built. In 2010, a training course for Afghan drug police officers was organized in Dushanbe. The domestic violence project is currently being implemented in the country with support from the OSCE Office.
After signing of the memorandum, a work will start on developing Tajikistan’s police reform program. Representatives of government bodies as well as donor countries, international organizations and NGOs will be enlisted for development of the program that will include several projects, the source said.
