Human Rights
and exchange of experiences between practitioners, academics, and NGOs working on these
topics with a view to facilitating human-rightscompliant international co-operation to combat terrorism in the OSCE region: the ODIHR,
in co-operation with the UN’s Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN
OHCHR), and with the support of the Government of Liechtenstein, organized a Technical
Workshop on Human Rights and International
Cooperation in Counter-Terrorism in November in Liechtenstein. The workshop focused on
topics such as the principle of non-refoulement;
procedural requirements for the transfer of persons, evidence, and intelligence between states;
and the practical difficulties involved in the listing of terrorist groups and individuals at the
national and international levels.
Terrorism issues are debated around the
world. The ODIHR has made its voice heard
by publishing research papers on important
issues and sometimes proposing solutions to
very difficult challenges. Papers published in
2006 covered the topics of human rights considerations in combating incitement to terrorism and related offences, protecting human
rights while combating the use of the Internet
for terrorist purposes, and solidarity with victims of terrorism. These complement the papers
produced in 2005 on extradition, diplomatic
assurances, and the right to life in the context of
counter-terrorism.7
Solidarity with victims of terrorism
On the basis of Permanent Council Decision
No. 618 of 1 July 2004 on “Solidarity with the
Victims of Terrorism”, a technical workshop
was organized in March in Oñati, Spain, involving academics and government representatives
working on issues related to the rights of victims
of terrorism, as well as delegates from international organizations, including the UN OHCHR,
the Council of Europe, and the European Commission. A high-level meeting will take place in
7
All of these papers may be found on the ODIHR’s website
at http://www.osce.org/odihr/documents.html?lsi=true&limi
t=10&grp=309.
Vienna in September 2007 focusing on access to
justice for victims of terrorism, the role of civil
society in solidarity with victims of terrorism,
and solidarity with victims of terrorism at the
international level.
II. Human rights training and education
Human rights education and training are undertaken to equip members of government institutions and of civil society with the experience
and skills necessary to have the greatest possible impact in their communities. The need to
improve skills also extends to OSCE staff, especially when working in field missions.
Support for civil society
Detainees make up one of the most vulnerable
groups in any society, though their vulnerability
is even more pronounced in countries — often
those in transition — where places of detention
remain part of a closed system. Developing a
system of public monitoring of places of detention helps governments and societies to identify,
rectify, and prevent abuse.8 Between 2004 and
2006, the ODIHR conducted a regional project
in Central Asia on public monitoring of human
rights in pre-trial detention. The final phase
took place in February 2006 in Almaty, where
government officials and participants from
NGOs from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
and Uzbekistan met in a seminar on prevention
of human rights abuses in places of detention;
NGO participants also received training on how
to write monitoring reports, and took part in a
roundtable on torture prevention. The roundtable identified both human rights abuses in
places of detention and positive steps taken by
authorities to prevent them. The seminar provided a forum for the discussion of international
standards and their implementation at the local
level, as well as of concrete monitoring mechanisms. One of the seminar’s main achievements
was the high level of interaction between civil
society representatives, who, by virtue of their
experience and knowledge, demonstrated to the
8
For more information on the ODIHR’s work in the area of
monitoring places of detention, see “Rule of Law”, pp. 29-30.
Annual Report
55
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