Director-General/Executive Director
Minister,
Vice Speaker ,
Dear Ambassadors,
I am very pleased to join you today to highlight and celebrate the work that we are doing with Kyrgyzstan to modernize the justice system.
I want to start by thanking the Republic of Kyrgyzstan for this fruitful partnership and for organizing this event, and to also thank the European Union for their generous support to UNODC, to this work and for co-sponsoring this event.
UNODC’s JUST4ALL project, which we are discussing today, represents several things that I am very proud of.
It represents a commitment to building just, effective, and humane criminal justice systems that aim to achieve better outcomes for people and societies.
It represents a bold effort to use new technologies in the pursuit of justice and transparency, as well as efficiency.
It represents a powerful multistakeholder partnership between UNODC, Kyrgyzstan, the EU, and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights, a leading NGO based here in our home city of Vienna.
And it represents a model that countries can learn from.
Excellencies,
JUST4ALL is an ambitious project that aims to support Kyrgyzstan in establishing a fully functional and effective probation service at a time where prison overcrowding is a real challenge in many countries.
And it has made a significant contribution towards this goal.
The project has helped develop a robust legal framework, sustainable capacity-building measures, and awareness-raising campaigns, as well as providing equipment and infrastructure.
At the heart of our efforts are modern digital tools for information management and data collection.
By digitizing pre- and post-trial information and allowing monitoring of penitentiary, probation, and forensic data in real-time, the Kyrgyz justice system improves information accuracy and transparency, which in turn bolsters human rights safeguards and due process.
The project has delivered results, and the numbers tell a story of progress.
The percentage of custodial sentences in Kyrgyzstan has gone down from 48% in 2020, to 24% in 2023.
This means less prison overcrowding and more opportunities for rehabilitation and reintegration.
Throughout this journey, the Kyrgyz republic has been a steadfast partner, and I want to take this opportunity to thank them for their commitment and their willingness to have frank dialogue and pursue progress.
I especially want to commend the Kyrgyz probation service and congratulate them for the remarkable progress they have achieved, just five years after being established.
And I take this opportunity to welcome the recent decision by Kyrgyzstan to join the Group of Friends of the Nelson Mandela Rules, reaffirming the country’s commitment to international standards and to a more humane and rights-based justice system.
Beyond the national scope, JUST4ALL has also been facilitating regional cooperation in Central Asia.
Using UNODC’s convening power, we have helped countries in the region to share international and European best practices, to learn from each other on how to strengthen criminal justice systems and how to let technology work for justice.
One notable example is the “Digitalization of Criminal Justice” Forum which we organized with participants from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, to promote human-rights based approaches to digitalization and criminal justice.
In Kyrgyzstan and beyond, JUST4ALL has charted a road towards better justice outcomes, a road paved with innovation and cooperation.
And we still have work to be done.
Throughout the rest of the year, we will be supporting the Kyrgyz authorities to develop rehabilitation programs, to build criminal justice capacities, and to expand automated information systems.
Ladies and gentlemen,
With the tools at our disposal today, we must strive to deliver swift and transparent justice; to protect the rights of everyone in contact with the law; to give people second chances where we can; and to strike a balance between public order, crime prevention, and social reintegration.
As we near the conclusion of JUST4ALL at the end of this year, let us take this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to inclusive, accountable, and modern justice systems.
And let us use lessons of JUST4ALL to scale up best practices and to replicate our successes in other countries.
I reiterate my gratitude to Kyrgyzstan and the EU, and I thank you all for joining us today.
