Anis H. Bajrektarevic is a Professor and a Chairperson for International Law and Global

MODERNDIPLOMACY.EU

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The core objective and purpose of the Rule of
Law Initiative is to foster political dialog and
support the country’s judicial and legal reforms
which “contributes towards the development of
a stable and democratic political framework,
functioning economic structures and the pro-
motion and respect of human rights, as called
for by the EU strategy for Central Asia.”[127] The
Rule of Law initiative will target primarily five
Ministries of Justice and Ministries of the Inte-
rior (Rule of Law Initiative Coordinators), public/
government-owned institutions and practition-
ers of law. This is quite the undertaking made
by the EU as the structure of the Central Asia
states may make the success and implementa-
tion of reforms more difficult. There are four
components of the project: Forums for dialogue
focusing on conferences and technical working
groups to enhance policy; training for legal pro-
fessionals; communication/ mapping/ network-
ing which focuses on the creation of experts,
communication and information access tools;
and lastly advice facility—“background analy-
ses and studies will complement dialogue
events and serve to advance policy.”[128]
The EU promotes human rights among all part-
ner nations and has criticized Central Asian
states for their human rights record. 
Even though the EU is partly represented in the
region, there is great potential to become a sig-
nificant external player in Central Asia. Western
critics should avoid misinterpreting the anti-
western attitude of the SCO and should strive
for common ground and interests in the Central
Asian region and work with individual countries
as they would be more receptive to bilateral
agreements. 
As the region becomes more integrated and
more willing to work with other regional organ-
izations outside of the geographic area and as
bilateral relations between Central Asia and EU
member states grow, the EU will become a
powerful and strategic ally with Central Asia. Ex-
pectedly, once this happens, the EU will move
to more concrete relationships such as invest-
ment and trade rather than focusing on devel-
opment assistance and nation-building and
capacity-building efforts.