Rule of law

Respect for the rule of law is essential to ensure human dignity.

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The concept of rule of law is a cornerstone of the OSCE's human rights and democratization activities. It not only encompasses formal legal frameworks, but also aims at justice based on the full acceptance of human dignity. OSCE participating States continue to require assistance in developing justice systems that guarantee the respect of everyone’s fundamental rights and freedoms in a fair and independent manner.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) supports judicial and legislative reforms to ensure that judiciaries operate free from undue influence. ODIHR also promotes institutional reforms to better enable key actors in the criminal justice chain to perform their duties transparently and in compliance with human rights obligations. ODIHR monitors trials to assess fair trial guarantees and promote reforms based on rule of law principles in the area of criminal, civil and administrative justice.

A number of OSCE field operations work in the area of rule of law, particularly in the following activities:

Legislative and judicial reform;
Strengthening the independence of the judiciary;
Strengthening public administration;
Reviewing and helping implement human rights legislation;
Monitoring the work of the judiciary, including prosecution and advocates, to ensure compliance with international human rights and rule of law standards;
Civil trial monitoring;
Capacity-building training for justice sector officials;
Trial monitoring of cases related to war crimes, hate crimes and human trafficking;
Reporting on hate crimes;
Training for judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers and police officers, civic and governmental bodies;
Helping anti-corruption institutions improve public accountability mechanisms;
Promoting participation of ethnic communities in public life;
Helping to ensure proper referral of complaints of human rights violations; and
Contributing to the development of national legal aid systems.

Rule of law

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Rule of law

Highlights

Learning new skills in prison

In this settlement colony in Kyrgyzstan inmates can learn new skills that will help them in their future reintegration into society

War Crimes Justice Project

Future without corruption

Video in Russian and Uzbek, developed by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, March 2016

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Rule of law

OSCE in Action

Information and activities on Rule of law from across the Organization.

Institutions and Structures

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities

Access to justice and national minorities

Access to justice for national minorities is not only about minorities’ enjoyment of rights but is also relevant to conflict prevention within and between states. If states deny, restrict or fail to provide access to justice, national minorities may become alienated, which undermines social cohesion and increases the risk of inter-ethnic tensions. Minority communities may also seek support from “kin” states, potentially leading to tensions between states. The High Commissioner provides guidance and recommendations to states on the relationship between access to justice and conflict prevention and access to justice and national minorities, complementing the work of other international actors, which focus on access to justice in general.

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OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Legislative support

Good and effective legislation is the foundation of every functioning state based on the rule of law. Laws should be adopted through democratic procedures and be clear and concise. To ensure the quality and effectiveness of laws related to the human dimension, ODIHR supports participating States by reviewing their law-making systems and relevant draft and existing legislation. In providing such support, the Office draws on legislative guidelines in specific areas, such as election, freedom of assembly and political party legislation, as well as the resources of Legislationline.org, ODIHR’s online legislative database.

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Rule of law

OSCE participating States continue to require assistance in developing justice systems that guarantee the respect for everyone’s fundamental rights and freedoms in a fair and independent manner. ODIHR supports judicial and legislative reforms to ensure that judiciaries operate free from undue influence. The Office also assists criminal justice reform compliant with human rights standards to bolster the development of robust legal professions. To strengthen fair trial guarantees, ODIHR uses trial monitoring as an assessment tool to promote reforms based on rule of law principles in the area of criminal, civil and administrative justice.

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Field Operations

OSCE Centre in Ashgabat

The Centre provides training on legislative techniques for representatives of the parliament and other law-making institutions. It organizes study visits for parliamentarians to other OSCE participating States and OSCE institutions, including to ODIHR. As part of its support for legal reform, the Centre has developed a database that includes all official legislative acts and international treaties to which Turkmenistan is a party. It is assisting the state in compiling a set of commentaries to a number of national legislative acts.

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OSCE Mission in Kosovo

To help ensure the independence, impartiality and accountability of the justice system, the Mission regularly monitors and reports on the work of the judiciary, prosecution and advocates and assesses whether they perform in compliance with international human rights and rule of law standards. It engages in activities to improve performance of the justice sector and to support non-judicial institutions in defending human rights.

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OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Mission works alongside domestic institutions and with international partners to enhance the legislative and policy framework for the prevention and prosecution of trafficking in human beings. It monitors individual cases and advocates for harmonization of the country’s anti-trafficking legislation with international standards.

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OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Mission supports the development of an independent justice system that upholds human rights and possesses the capacity and commitment to effectively investigate, prosecute and adjudicate serious crimes, including war crimes, hate crimes, trafficking in human beings, terrorism-related offenses, corruption, organized crime, and domestic violence.

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OSCE Mission to Moldova

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OSCE Mission to Montenegro

The Mission’s key priority in the field of the rule of law is strengthening the professionalism, effectiveness and independence of the judiciary. It helps educate legal practitioners in criminal and civil justice, harmonizes existing legislation with international standards and promotes utilizing mediation as an alternative in resolving disputes. It also supports improvements to the work of the State Prosecutor’s Office in the area of public relations. In the fight against corruption and organized crime, the Mission supports the development and implementation of a new legislative framework. The Mission also trains judges, prosecutors, and the police on detecting, investigating, and prosecuting corruption and organized crime, in particular high-profile cases.

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OSCE Mission to Serbia

To further the adherence to the rule of law in Serbia, the Mission assists the authorities in their efforts to reform the judiciary and the prison system. It organizes training seminars for judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers and police officers on criminal justice matters, and helps anti-corruption institutions improve their public accountability mechanisms. The Mission also works with human rights institutions on anti-torture initiatives, and trains officials and civil society on how to better prevent, detect, and prosecute financial crimes.

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OSCE Mission to Skopje

Key priorities in this area are to strengthen the independence of the judiciary and to assist the legal reform process. Promoting the participation of all ethnic communities in public life is an important tool to secure equal access of all citizens to justice, which in turn helps strengthen democratic progress in the country. The Mission organizes train-the-trainers courses and prepares educational materials, monitors the legislative process and offers technical comments to the judiciary, provides expertise to law makers to support the legislative drafting process and also makes legal resource material available. It monitors trials of high profile cases that might have an impact on the security situation or inter-ethnic relations in the country, and helps establish an objective and merit-based system to evaluate the work of public prosecutors.

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OSCE Presence in Albania

Legislative and judicial reform and the strengthening of the country’s public administration are at the core of the Presence’s rule of law activities. These include a civil trial monitoring initiative that led to important procedural reforms, which the Presence helps implement in the courts. It also assisted with the creation of an administrative justice system, and provides capacity-building training for justice sector officials. The Presence monitors the management, efficiency, and fairness of recruitment and staffing, and advises the authorities on merit-based selection procedures for justice personnel and other public administration officials.

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OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek

The OSCE Programme Office strengthens the administration of justice in Kyrgyzstan by contributing to the ongoing reform of the criminal justice system. This work aims to enhance the capacity of prosecutors, judges, and lawyers who are implementing the newly adopted criminal justice legislation, and at the same time supports the efforts of governmental working groups and civil society that monitor the use of the new legislation throughout the rule of law sector. The Programme Office also assists in the implementation of the Penitentiary Reform Strategy, in the prevention of violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism in prisons and the prevention of the use of torture in detention facilities. The Programme Office also actively assists in strengthening the co-operation between the national human rights institutions, state institutions and civil society.

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OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe

This area of the Programme Office’s work focuses on building the capacity of the government to develop legislative framework and associated mechanisms for probation, risk assessment, rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for adult and juvenile offenders. Part of this work aims to facilitate and support the establishment of mechanisms to safeguard the treatment and conditions of detained and imprisoned persons, including that for alternative sentencing, rehabilitation and reintegration. The Office provides technical assistance and a platform for dialogue for an intergovernmental working group. The group consists of civil society representatives and experts for the implementation of the programme on penitentiary reform. The Office gives capacity-building support to the Working Group on Reforming the System Providing Justice for Children. The Programme is part of implementing the 2017-2021 National Action Plan on Juvenile Justice System Reform. In close co-operation with the Training Centre of the Supreme Court, the Programme Office provides support for the development of the judicial handbook on managing cases related to extremist and terrorist activity. Assistance includes capacity-building support for judges in managing such cases. The Office helped to establish and continues to support a production unit in the female detention center in Nurek. Further assistance includes setting up training classes to facilitate vocational training for prisoners involved in the production unit. The Office facilitates the work of the Coordination Council of the Penitentiary Reform, where government officials, civil society representatives, experts and international organizations will co-ordinate plans and activities on penitentiary reform.

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OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan

In its efforts to promote the rule of law and to strengthen democratic institutions, the Office facilitates dialogue between Kazakhstan’s authorities and civil society on these issues. It provides support for legislative reforms and implementation of international and national documents in compliance with OSCE principles and commitments. The Office assists the host country in reforming its criminal justice system through facilitating analysis and discussions on proposed legislation.

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OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine

The ability of Ukraine's courts to deliver fair justice and to protect the rights of citizens is a core precondition to strengthening its security and upholding democracy. The Co-ordinator supports comprehensive reform of the judiciary by participating in developing and implementing its strategy; providing expert support and enabling inclusive participation of stakeholders in discussions over the substance of the changes. The Co-ordinator also helps Ukraine’s parliamentarians draft laws that safeguard individual freedoms, by offering training courses, developing methodologies and providing expert opinions.

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OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan

Judicial and legal reforms, as well as modernizing the education of legal practitioners, are at the core of the Co-ordinator’s rule of law-related activities in Uzbekistan. Working with local and international partners, the Co-ordinator runs training seminars for judges, defence lawyers, law teachers, and legal services of the state authorities on issues that include judicial ethics; e-justice; international fair trial standards; and good practices for the selection and appointment of judges.

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