The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR), along with the Legal Statistics Department of the General Prosecutors Office of the Kyrgyz Republic and the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek, organized the “Regional Forum on the Digitalization of Criminal Justice” and a seminar on IT solutions for protection of human right from 30 June to 2 July 2023 in Bishkek.

The even took place within the framework of “Advancing Integrated Criminal Justice Information Management in the Kyrgyz Republic” (sub-strand of the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime project “Support to Justice Sector Reform in the Kyrgyz Republic: Advancing Probation and Integrated Justice Information Management (JUST4ALL)”).

The primary objective of the forum was to exhibit the cutting-edge information systems created and deployed in the criminal justice field of the Kyrgyz Republic. It also offered an effective way to share insights and discuss the effects of digitalization on human rights safeguards within the criminal justice system in the region.

Over the three days of the forum, the attendees heard from many experts from a wide range of perspectives. Representatives of the statistics departments of the General Prosecutors office in Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan shared their expertise, as did representatives of the General Prosecutors office in Uzbekistan and the deputy prosecutor general of the Kyrgyz Republic, among others.

The forum became a productive place to share best practices and lessons learned for using automated tools in the criminal justice setting. It yielded an important result, which was an initial agreement to annually support the exchange of experience and engage in discussions regarding trends in the digitalization of criminal justice.

“Support to Justice Sector Reform in the Kyrgyz Republic: Advancing Probation and Integrated Justice Information Management (JUST4ALL)” is a four-year project co-funded by European Union and UNODC, and implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It 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. The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR) is an implementing partner who oversees the second component of the project.