The training formed part of a broader strategy to enhance the effectiveness and professionalism of Uzbekistan’s national monitoring mechanism, enabling the Ombudsman’s Office to conduct preventive visits in full compliance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT).

A key highlight of the programme was the introduction of the newly developed Monitoring Guidance Document, prepared jointly by CDJI and the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan. These new instruments serve as practical frameworks to support the Ombudsman’s monitoring groups in carrying out professional, ethical, and rights-based monitoring of detention facilities.

The Monitoring Toolkit provides concrete checklists, data templates, and thematic indicators to help monitors assess conditions of detention, medical care, disciplinary procedures, access to legal assistance, offers step-by-step instructions for planning visits, conducting interviews, analysing evidence, and drafting reports. 

Throughout the two-day training, participants learned to apply the new Monitoring Toolkit in simulated monitoring scenarios, deepening their understanding of risk assessment, ethical interviewing, documentation, and evidence analysis. This practical engagement helped translate international human rights standards into actionable skills that can be used during real visits to detention facilities.

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Sessions also explored critical themes including:

• Ethical principles and professional integrity of monitors;

• Gender-sensitive and trauma-informed approaches;

• Confidential communication with detainees and protection from reprisals;

• Data security and evidence-based reporting; and

• Follow-up mechanisms to ensure implementation of recommendations.