Published by UNDP Kyrgyzstan, November 3, 2022

Bishkek, November 2, 2022 –

UNDP in the Kyrgyz Republic has organized two days training aimed at capacity building of the national partners in preventing violent extremism. The staff from the Psychosocial Support Unit, theologians and specialists from the regional departments of the Probation Department under the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic took part in the training on “Psychosocial support and trauma sensitivity for preventing violent extremism”. It was one of the set and important activities of the UNDP, conducted with and for Probation Department under the PVE interventions.

30 participants learned:

• To understand the links between mental health, psychosocial wellbeing, and rehabilitation of people charged for cases related to violent extremism.
• To increase understanding of how adversity and trauma affect individuals’ health, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors
• To increase ability to carry out basic emotion regulation practices in daily work and exercise trauma-sensitivity to improve interactions with clients.

Michael Niconchuk, Beyond Conflict organization program director noted: “I am honored to lead Beyond Conflict’s collaboration with UNDP Kyrgyzstan to support probation officers, social workers, and psychologists working in the country’s newly established Probation Department who are providing critical psychosocial support and case management for probation clients. Central Asia’s probation systems are largely new, eager, and dealing with a diversity of cases, including folks convicted of extremism-related offenses. Building multidisciplinary teams and cross-agency capacity for those working with trauma-affected clients is no easy feat, moreso when certain basic services and mental health professionals are in short supply.”

Daniyar Moldokul uulu the Deputy Director of the Probation Department of the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic in his welcoming speech admitted “People get into difficult situations and can’t get out on their own. We first research and identify their needs, find out the reasons why they have stumbled. When citizens are prosecuted for the first time, they are psychologically unstable and frightened. We provide them with appropriate psychological help in such situations, explain that the judicial system gave them a chance to serve their sentence without isolation from society. In this training our colleagues have possibility to widen their knowledge and skills of preventive work with probation clients. I’m grateful for fruitful partnership with the UNDP Kyrgyzstan, all previous capacity building activities had a positive impact on both Probation Department staff and clients.”

The Law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On Probation” enacted in 2019 introduced a legal basis for “probation” – a new concept for Kyrgyzstan. The goals of probation are to create conditions for the correction and resocialization of probationers and prevent them from committing new offenses (Article 1). 8 probation offices opened with UNDP support.

The initiative is supported by the UNDP project “Strengthening Resilience to Violent Extremism in Asia” (STRIVE Asia), funded by the European Union through the EU-UN Joint Partnership.

Link to photo album: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAcUkY

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Media Contacts: Nurzhan Alymkanova, communication specialist, nurzhan.alymkanova@undp.org