"Louise Arbour, UN human rights commissioner, highly evaluated the present scope of the Justice Ministry's partnership with human rights organizations. As she stressed, the penitentiary reform the ministry is pursuing is very progressive, and has earned wide acclaim in the world," said the Justice Ministry public relations center.
Ms. Arbour pointed out the ministry's spectacular contribution to efforts to humanize the criminal law, change state punitive policies, and mitigate and diversify punishments.
The conferees said they were eager to extend partnership not only for compliance with human rights but on many other projects to come, said the Justice Ministry.
The visitor and Mr. Chaika also discussed anti-terror efforts. Current developments require equal standards in that field for all, they pointed out. They debated issues of juvenile justice, the judiciary, and the ministry's prospects to set up a legal defense service to cater for low-income persons.
Compliance with human rights is among top priorities of state policies. It has a humanitarian, national, cultural, religious and historical purport, emphasized Mr. Chaika.
He laid special stress on the necessity to carry on a constructive dialogue with European countries on human rights, and strongly warned against whatever attempts to use double standards in that field, and give it a political coloring, said the public relations center.
