The Working Group discussed the draft Law of Tajikistan "On Probation" on August 21-23. The discussion took place in the conference hall of "Shokhambary" sanatorium of Hissar district.

The official working group, which was established on June 15, 2023, according to the order of the Minister of Justice, consists of representatives of ministries and departments, law enforcement and judicial bodies of the republic.

It was noted at the meeting that "alternatives to imprisonment have proven themselves as the main tool for reducing the prison population and, consequently, reducing prison overcrowding”.

"Keeping a convicted person in prison, in general, costs much more than a non-custodial sentence. In the rapidly changing modern conditions, in which new global challenges are emerging, including in the field of the system of execution of criminal penalties, alternative measures to imprisonment can become a tool to respond to these challenges and a way to solve existing problems," said Nargis Zokirova, Director of the NGO “Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law”.

Voris Gozizoda, Deputy Head of The Main Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Penalties of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Tajikistan and Head of the Working Group on the development of this draft law, noted that Tajikistan is carrying out serious reforms in the field of the country's legal policy, including in the field of the penitentiary system.

"An important step towards the creation of a system of alternative measures of criminal punishment and the establishment of a probation institute in Tajikistan is the approval on June 25, 2020 of the Strategy for Reforming the System of Execution of Criminal Penalties of the Republic of Tajikistan for the period up to 2030. It plans to create a Probation Service in Tajikistan. Thus, the development of the draft law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On Probation" is timely and necessary," he said.

According to the deputy director of the NGO "Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law" Tahmina Juraeva, the probation service is the most important institution in the field of criminal justice and crime prevention in many countries of the world.

"The study of the experience of Central Asian countries shows that probation Services have been established and operate in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan. However, probation laws have been adopted only in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. In all countries, the Probation Service is a relatively new institution. We hope that in the near future the law "On Probation" will also be adopted in Tajikistan and a probation institute will be established," she said.

The event was organized by the NGO "Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law" together with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Tajikistan in the framework of the project "Development of the draft law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On Probation" and is held with financial and technical support of the OSCE program Office in Dushanbe and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Tajikistan.