DRC has been operating in Central Asia since 2003. The current DRC programme is largely built upon activities implemented within the CAPG 1 in 2005-2007. The Central Asia Partnership Group (CAPG), composed of the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), was formed in 2004 with support of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote the peaceful and democratic development of the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The 2007 -2009 programme focuses on Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan aims at improving asylum system and standards of refugee protection in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, enhancing role of civil society in Fergana valley in mitigating inter-regional and inter-communal tension in this conflict-prone region and enhancing state-civil dialogue on the range of issues relating to human rights in general and refugee protection in particular. The programme implies to following major activities within the refugee protection and civil society capacity building components:

Refugee protection:

• Provision of training and assistance to Kyrgyz and Tajik immigration authorities by a long-term assistance of an expert in refugee protection issues;
• Support to further development and expansion of a regional network of trainers in refugee law and protection issues;
• Development capacity of judges at the second instance appeal courts in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; Study trip for Judges to Denmark or Ireland.

Civil society capacity building
Since the outset of its intervention in 2003 DRC has been supporting Dolina Mira (Peace Valley) – the Ferghana Valley NGO Network, comprising 30 NGOs from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The current programme seeks to promote further engagement of civil society organization operating in Ferghana valley in dialogue on human rights issues with local communities and authorities and  their involvement in conflict prevention activities. Activities include institutional support of the network, small grants programme, training workshops on a wide range of issues, fund-raising, advocacy, public policy etc.

Partners and Donors
The current DRC intervention is supported by DANIDA and IrishAid.
The CAPG 1 and CAPG 2 programmes implemented in partnership with International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) were supported by DANIDA.