On May 14 this year, the first meeting of the Regional Expert Council in Central Asia on the rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees from armed conflict zones will take place in Tashkent.

The Regional Expert Council is being established on the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, put forward in March 2022 in Tashkent 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” and received the support of international partners.

The event is organized by the Institute of Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (ISRS), the State Security Service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Family and Women under the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction, as well as the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) and the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan.

The first meeting of the Regional Expert Council in Tashkent will be attended by high-level representatives of Central Asian states, international organizations – the UN and the OSCE, as well as specialists in rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees from conflict zones, including in matters of bringing to justice persons suspected of committing criminal acts.

It is expected that the opening ceremony will be attended by 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 the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Representatives of international and regional organizations, including the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center, the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, 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 event will become a unique platform for the exchange of experiences of Central Asian countries in returning their citizens from conflict zones, institutionalizing and increasing the effectiveness of regional cooperation in this area. It will again demonstrate the high level of consolidation achieved by the Central Asian states and their readiness to jointly bear joint responsibility for ensuring peace and security in the region.

As part of the event, two breakout sessions will be organized on implementing an integrated whole-of-government approach to the rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees from conflict zones and increasing the role of local communities and public organizations in ensuring a whole-of-society approach in this area.

G. Khonnazarov, UzA