Members of the Working Group of the Interdepartmental Commission on ensuring Turkmenistan’s compliance with its international obligations in the field of human rights and humanitarian law studied the provisions and reporting requirements of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at a workshop in Ashgabat on 29 and 30 August 2011. Ms. Bunafsha Gulakova, an international legal expert who facilitated this workshop, briefed the participants on the Covenant and the working methods of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights. (CESCR Committee)

Desiree Maruca is a rising Junior at The American University in Washington, DC. She is majoring in International Relations with a focus on International Politics and International Business Relations in the European Union. Outside of classes, Desiree works for the Kogod Business School, will be a Resident Assistant in the Fall, and enjoys giving tours for the Admissions office. Desiree has traveled to Europe several times as well as to Asia and is already looking forward to the opportunity to reach the other continents and parts of the world. In addition to BBC or Al-Jazeera, Desiree can be found reading and watching highlights on ESPN or NFL.com – Go Baltimore Ravens!

Elizabeth Marcella Lombardi is a studying ecology and international affairs at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She has been involved in international development projects with organizations such as Unicef, The UN Tap Project, Experiential Learning International and Educate! Africa. During the year following high school graduation, Lizzie lived in rural Uganda and started a sustainable farm project at Musana Children’s Home. Environmental stewardship and compassionate development are objectives that Lizzie would pursue to the end of the world and back, which is both a symptom of wanderlust and a life-long dedication to progress.

Kara Naseef is a junior at American University majoring in international studies with a concentration in international development of sub-Saharan Africa.  She will be studying in Tanzania for the next year under a Boren Scholarship. She is currently enrolled in an intensive Swahili program at the University of Florida. She traveled with AU to Senegal in 2009 to study children’s rights to education and health care and has focused her studies on sub-Saharan Africa ever since. Kara is interested in studying public policy as it relates to children’s rights in sub-Saharan Africa.

·   enable sharing of experiences of police reform;

·   develop a shared analysis of thematic areas of discussion,  identify good practices and lessons learned from various  experiences of reform, especially in organizational and legislative reform and sustainability of police reform initiatives;

·   facilitate networking and coordination between role-players in police reform programs; and

·   identify future research needs and potential interventions in the field of police reform.

The Institute for Justice Sector Development invites the reader to explore their real and practical aspirations for positive improvement in the field of justice sector development in those regions where sector reform and rebuilding desperately need competent, meaningful technical assistance from those in the international community both bilaterally and multilaterally.  Please submit your views and/or edits, critiques and/or additions at your earliest convenience and they will be attributed (unless we are informed otherwise) and incorporated in the final document to be presented to the Board of the Hague Institute for Global Justice.   We encourage you to include actual examples of the positive or otherwise basis for your comments (names and affiliations can certainly be redacted if necessary).

We trust that the final product, already many months in discussion, will assist IGJ in their endeavors to define a meaningful mandate for their new initiative.

IGJ Proposal