From 18 to 20 November 2024, a delegation from the Presidential Administration and General Prosecutor’s Office of the Kyrgyz Republic visited Kazakhstan, a regional front-runner and pioneer in digitalization of criminal justice, to study its criminal justice information management systems. The study visit was part of our European Union and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) co-funded JUST4ALL project ‘Supporting Justice Reform in the Kyrgyz Republic’. It champions reforms aligned with international standards.

Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have been fostering regional collaboration on the topic, regularly conducting forums and exchange visits for the past five years. The goal of the latest visit was to explore recent advancements in the digitalization of criminal justice in Kazakhstan, in particular in areas such as digital signatures, crime record management, analytical and reporting systems, integration with the court system, and comprehensive solutions for processing offenses.

During their three-day stay, the delegation, led by Kyrgyzstan’s Deputy Prosecutor General Konkubaeva Umutkan, was hosted by the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The participants also visited a district police department and criminal court to examine the respective information management systems. They were especially interested in the functioning of the automated information systems, such as the ‘EUD’ (Electronic Criminal Case File) and the ‘ERAP’ (Unified Register of Administrative Offenses), essential tools in the daily operations of Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor’s Office. A special focus was on the methodology of forensic examinations, electronic digital signature, and on the information exchange system of law enforcement and special agencies.

Kyrgyzstan has been actively pursuing the development of digital solutions to improve transparency, accuracy, and accountability within the criminal justice sector. The visit is expected to contribute towards the country’s search for innovative ways to harness new technologies, in line with gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches, at various stages of criminal proceedings.

’Supporting Justice Reform in the Kyrgyz Republic: Promoting Probation and Integrated Justice Information Management (JUST4ALL)’ is a four-year project co-funded by the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and implemented by the UNODC in partnership with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR). It promotes the humanisation of the criminal justice system in the Kyrgyz Republic and aims to improve the country’s capacity to implement its criminal justice reforms in line with international standards and norms as well as European best practices. The two main components of the project concern the following areas of criminal justice reform: probation and information management.