On 25 July 2022, the six-day International Summer School on “Human Security in Central Asia: Sustainable Development Securitization and Human Rights,” organized by the OSCE Academy in Bishkek with support of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek and the Global Campus of Human Rights in Venice was launched at the picturesque lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan. The participants of the school are 20 graduates and students of the OSCE Academy coming from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, who are thriving to improve their knowledge in human security and human rights in Central Asian region.
"We believe that enhancement of the young leaders’ knowledge about democratic governance, human rights, and regional security will contribute to ensuring a sustainable development and prosperity in Central Asia countries," - underlined Alexander Eliseev, Head of the Politico-Military Department, OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek, in his opening remarks.
Dr. Alexander Wolters, Director of the OSCE Academy highlighted that the Academy shares the concern about the increasing securitization of sustainable development strategies in Central Asia. With Climate Change putting livelihoods in the region at greater risk, sustainable development is becoming the key path to a better future for all: “With our Summer School we pay attention to the importance of Human Rights as integral parts of any sustainable development and we equip our students and young professionals with means to analyze and promote Human Rights standards in Central Asia.”
The groups of Experts, coming from the OSCE Academy, the Global Campus of Human Rights in Venice, and the OSCE, will cover the UN treaties that are ratified by Central Asian states, including children's rights, women's rights, cultural and religious rights, as well as civil and political, and economic rights; OSCE comprehensive approach to security; Human Rights approach in counterterrorism context. There will be a particular emphasis on the linkage between human security, personal safety, and human rights (securitization), when it comes to food, health and work, migration, and children and women's rights. Furthermore, it will link human security with the level of governmental and CSOs compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals in Central Asia.