xTashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On the eve of the upcoming first meeting of the Central Asia Regional Expert Council on the rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees from armed conflict zones in Tashkent on 14 May, the First Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies (ISMI) under the President of Uzbekistan, Akramjon Nematov, commented on its main goals and objectives:

– The Regional Expert Council is being established, as is known, on the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, put forward at the high-level conference “Regional cooperation of Central Asian countries within the framework of the Joint Action Plan for the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy”, organized on 3-4 March 2022, in Tashkent.

Since the territorial defeat of ISIS in 2019, tens of thousands of men, women, and children have been and continue to be detained in camps and detention centers in northern Syria and Iraq. The humanitarian, security, and human rights situation in these camps is highly deplorable. This creates the preconditions for the involvement of persons held there in the networks of terrorist groups.

In this regard, the Central Asian states, following their international obligations to protect their citizens, including the call of the General Assembly and the UN Security Council, and guided by considerations of compassion, were among the first to take the initiative in responding to this situation, becoming world leaders in repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of their citizens.

As of May 2024, more than 2,100 people have been returned to the region through humanitarian operations organized by Central Asian states. In particular, the Republic of Kazakhstan returned 754 of its citizens to their homeland, the Kyrgyz Republic – 511, the Republic of Tajikistan – 381, and the Republic of Uzbekistan – 531.

Upon return, repatriated persons, predominantly women and children, underwent rehabilitation followed by specific measures to facilitate their peaceful reintegration into families and communities. Today, each country has developed its program and accumulated significant experience.

Also, Uzbekistan began in 2019 with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s decision to repatriate its citizens from “hot spots” in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. It carried out five stages of the humanitarian operation “Mehr” and returned 531 people, 95% of whom were women and children.

For the complete rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees, the government and international organizations, including UNICEF and UNDP, developed and implemented comprehensive and targeted programs. Returnees were restored to their civil rights, reunited with their families, and given access to various educational, medical, and social services. Some received free housing, completed vocational training courses, and, thanks to loans at low interest rates, provided equipment for personal businesses (mini-bakeries, machines for cutting and sewing clothes), successfully integrated into the labor market.

Today, rehabilitation and reintegration are important parts of Uzbekistan’s updated strategy to counter terrorism. In the National Strategy for Countering Extremism and Terrorism for 2021-2026, adopted on July 1, 2021, the implementation of a set of measures to provide comprehensive social, legal, and material assistance to victims of terrorism, including repatriates, is identified as one of the main objectives of state policy in this area.

The government has approved and is implementing an Action Plan to reduce rehabilitation risks and assist families returning from military conflict zones.

At the same time, Uzbekistan adheres to an integrated and whole-of-state approach, along with administrative and criminal methods. It puts preventive, spiritual, and educational work at the center of efforts, actively involves civil society institutions and the media, and, in partnership with international organizations, widely introduces advanced foreign experience in countering extremism and terrorism.

The efforts of Uzbekistan today receive an appropriate assessment from the international community. Thus, during the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in July 2021, the repatriation program of Uzbekistan was recognized as an example for many countries, its unique character, based on family values and close social relations in society, was emphasized.

In particular, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, emphasized that the Uzbekistan model, implemented effectively, humanely, and in compliance with human rights, based on family unity and community support, puts the interests of the child and placing women at the center of political, legal and social action, provides a roadmap and best practices for reintegration for other governments.

Our country received the same assessment at the UN High-Level Counter-Terrorism Week, held from June 19 to 23, 2023, in New York, where Uzbekistan’s leadership in the humane treatment of its citizens taken from combat zones in the Middle East as part of Operation “Mehr” was recognized.

Uzbekistan does not stop there. It is increasing international cooperation not only on rehabilitation and reintegration, but also on the entire range of issues of countering terrorism. In 2022, the government of Uzbekistan signed a roadmap with the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, within the framework of which, for the first time in Uzbekistan and Central Asia as a whole, global UN programs on reintegration and cybersecurity were launched, a virtual network on cyber terrorism and an early warning network in counter-terrorism were created, over 200 specialists from the countries of the region improved their skills.

Moreover, recognition of the vital contribution of Uzbekistan to countering terrorism was the signing on December 5, 2023, at the UN headquarters in New York of a Memorandum of Understanding between the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism and the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan, which allowed our institute to enter, along with governments, into the so-called “group of privileged partners” with which the UN has cooperation agreements.

This explains the significant interest in the upcoming event. The first meeting of the Regional Expert Council in Tashkent will be attended by high representatives of international and regional organizations, law enforcement agencies, specialists in rehabilitation and reintegration, experts from research and educational institutions, and civil society activists from Central Asian states.

It is expected that the opening ceremony will be addressed by the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Central Asia, the Head of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) Kaha Imnadze, Acting Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the UN Security Council Weixiong Chen, OSCE Co-ordinator of Activities to Address Transnational Threats Alena Kupchyna, as well as heads of the delegations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Representatives of the leadership of international and regional organizations, including the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center, the SCO RATS, the CICA Secretariat, the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States, the CSTO, and such UN structures as the Office of Drugs and Crime, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, are also invited to the event.

The forum will be a unique platform for the exchange of experience and best practices. It will include a regional workshop and an on-site visit to the basic principles of organizing practical work on rehabilitation and reintegration. The forum will also engage the potential of local communities and civil society institutions in ensuring a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach in this area.

The establishment of the Regional Expert Council is also notable for the fact that, for the first time in world practice, Central Asia will pioneer the institutionalization of regional cooperation in rehabilitation and reintegration.

This, in turn, is clear evidence of the high level of consolidation of the Central Asian state, which will allow for maintaining the progressive dynamics of regional cooperation in countering common challenges and security threats.

Most importantly, the Council will serve as a permanent platform for expanding partnerships between government agencies, civil society institutions, and local communities in the countries of the region, which are the essential parts of the whole-of-government approach in the fight against terrorism and extremism.

Moreover, this will also give an additional impetus to intensify and increase the effectiveness of cooperation between the Central Asian states and specialized international and regional organizations, mobilizing support from the international community in countering terrorism.

Recently, the Central Asian states committed to multilateralism have brought cooperation in countering terrorism, including with international and regional organizations, to a qualitatively new level. In March 2022, in Tashkent, at a high-level conference under the auspices of the UN, the Central Asian states approved the Joint Action Plan to implement the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia. The resulting Tashkent Declaration was distributed as an official document of the UN General Assembly.

These documents have become a concentrated expression of the presence of a common political will, an integral regional strategy, and the readiness of the Central Asian states, as responsible subjects of international relations, to bear joint responsibility for ensuring peace, security, and sustainable development in the Central Asian region.

The upcoming event will allow us to agree on general principles and approaches to the fight against terrorism, considering the changing international socio-political and socio-economic environment, and develop proposals for further harmonization of legislation and unification of law enforcement practice in countering terrorism. It will increase the stability of Central Asian countries in terms of common security challenges and threats.