Kyrgyzstan’s Probation Department and National University Sign Agreement to Introduce Probation Management in the Academic Curriculum and Offer Work Placements for Students to Consider a Career in the Probation Service 

February 1, 2023

The Probation Department under the Ministry of Justice and the Kyrgyz National University named after Zhusup Balasagyn signed an agreement today to develop and roll out special courses for future probation specialists.

 

“Probation Officers supervise offenders and help them make better life choices. They protect the public by preventing reoffending and helping probation clients to become productive citizens”, stated Mr. Tolobek Abdyrakhmanov, Rector of the Kyrgyz National University. “In addition to law, the training program for students who choose this subject, will include penitentiary psychology, pedagogy and other essential disciplines for working with probation clients. To gain direct work experience, internships at the Probation Department are foreseen”. 

 

The Probation Department is a relatively young institution established three years ago. It currently employs 258 people in its Bishkek headquarters, 3 interregional departments and more than 50 territorial probation offices.

“Given that we currently service over 25,000 clients, the educational level of probation officers requires constant improvement and specialization to be able to work with the wide variety of cases coming our way. To provide tailored social, legal and psychological assistance to probation clients, we also need to diversify the composition of our staff to ensure we attract people with the right mix of knowledge and skills, in particular as it relates to communication skills and understanding of psychology and social work”, said Mr. Almazbek Zarylbek uulu, Deputy Minister of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The initiative is supported by the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) within the framework of the project “Support to Justice Sector Reform in the Kyrgyz Republic: Advancing Probation and Integrated Justice Information Management” (JUST4ALL).

“The rule of law and education are building blocks for contemporary society. We are excited to launch this initiative to see how these two sectors can cooperate and what kind of results this will bring. This is a two-way street where the university provides training and prepares young professionals for a career to advance the rule of law and the Ministry of Justice feeds into the university’s curriculum with good practices and new ideas based on the practical work of the probation service”, emphasized Mr. Cosimo Lamberti-Fossati.

JUST4ALL promotes humanization of the criminal justice system in the Kyrgyz Republic and is geared towards scaling up the country’s capacity to implement its criminal justice reforms in line with international standards and norms as well as best European practices. The project is divided into two main components addressing two areas of criminal justice reform: probation and criminal justice information management. JUST4ALL is co-funded by the European Union and co-funded and implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and crime.

“A key aim of the joint EU/UNODC JUST4ALL program is to work with the Probation Department to improve training and professional development opportunities for probation officers. This includes the development of a standardized training program at the Probation Department, but also entails the promotion of new partnerships, such as the one we are witnessing today with the Kyrgyz National University”, said Mr. Andrey Seleznev, Head of the UNODC Programme office in the Kyrgyz Republic.

‘This publication was co-funded by the European Union and UNODC. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the UNODC and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.’

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