The first online seminar on this topic was held on 17th March 2023 to kick off a series of training courses on the prevention of and combat against corruption, which the IRZ is planning in cooperation with the anti-corruption agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2023.
The presentation of the two German experts, Senior Public Prosecutor Wolf-Tilman Baumert, Director of the Economic Crme Department at the Wuppertal Public Prosecutor's Office and Professor Dr. Bijan Nowrousian from the University of Police and Public Administration NRW in Münster focused on the following topics:
The anti-corruption policy in Germany
Whistleblowers
Effective anti-corruption measures
Conflicts of interest
Approx. 70 participants attended who were employees of various departments in the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The presentations were practice-oriented, as both speakers have expert knowledge and extensive expertise in this area, which was extremely well received by the participants. The opportunity to report cases of corruption anonymously and to protect whistleblowers in Germany attracted particular interest.
An event on the subject of compliance is also planned in consultation with the Kazakh partner institution. The IRZ is thus expanding its consistent project portfolio in Kazakhstan.
Training in administrative law in Astana Republic of Kazakhstan
The new Code of Administrative Procedures and Procedures of the RK (APPK) came into force in Kazakhstan on 1 July 2021. Against this backdrop, IRZ has been providing advice on administrative and a Code of Administrative Procedure since late 2020.
As part of these consultations, a training course on “Administrative Law: Theory and Practice of Teaching” took place in Astana on 12-13 October 2022 in cooperation with KAZGUU University, Centre for Administrative Law and German Law. The target group were university lecturers who lecture on administrative law.
LMR Dr Christian Reitemeier, Ministry of Justice of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and Dr Christian Schaich, Administrative Director, Centre for Eastern European and International Studies, opened the series of presentations by outlining the courses in law at universities in Germany, and then conducted exercises on practical case solutions.
The following topics were covered in detail:
Introduction to the German techniques and procedures for solving cases
Principles of administrative procedure and their application
Discussion and resolution of a case from general administrative law based on German law and with reference to the APPK RK
Individual instruments of public administration (legal and administrative acts) and their application
The feedback on the training sessions was very positive. As the event was held face-to-face, participants were able to exchange their experiences directly with the German experts and explore them further in personal discussions.
The consultations on administrative law will be continued in 2023.
Gutzeit, Peixoto, Wollenschläger Republic of Kazakhstan
The IRZ has been organising seminars on the “Application of the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Law Aspects of International Child Abduction (HKÜ)” in cooperation with the Hague Conference on International Private Law (HCCH), the Federal Office of Justice and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (RK) since 2020. A follow-up seminar was held in Almaty on 20-21 October 2022.
Two German experts participated along with Raquel Salinas Peixoto, legal officer at the Hague Conference on International Private Law: Désirée Wollenschläger, officer at the Federal Office of Justice and judge at the District Court and Dr Joanna Guttzeit, liaison judge at the International Hague Liaison Judges Network and liaison judge at the European Judicial Network.
The Chair of the Committee for the Protection of Children's Rights at the Ministry of Education of the RK, Nasymzhan Ospanova, opened the event and moderated the program.
The IRZ experts discussed the following topics:
Details of the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
Federal Office of Justice as the central authority in Germany for international conflicts regarding custody
Differences in court negotiations for custody and visitation rights and child abduction
Use of mediation in court
Court practice regarding the application of the HKÜ
Hearing of the child
Cooperation of central authorities in the application of the HKÜ
Liaison judges at the Hague International Judges Network
The following speakers attended for Kazakhstan: Tokzhan Dyusembekova, Chair of the Almaty District Juvenile Court; Talgat Taskuzhin, Deputy Head of the Department of International Relations, the Department for Safeguarding the Functioning of Courts at the Supreme Court and Timur Yerdzhanov, International Law Attorney. They addressed problems in the application of the HKÜ in Kazakhstan and described their practical experiences.
The participants (80 attendees) consisted of representatives from the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice, the regional guardianship authorities and the juvenile departments in the police.
The face-to-face format enabled direct dialogue and exchanges with the attendees, who took an active part in the discussions.
The IRZ is planning an event next year with the relevant judges in Kazakhstan on issues around HKÜ.
