Liane Adler, ODIHR Human Rights Adviser (left), with Ksenia Zurakovskaya, Adviser to the Justice Chancellor of Estonia, at a conference on the prevention of torture, Baku, 25 November. (OSCE/Rashad Huseynov) 34 at how this commitment is reflected in national laws and practices, and recommended measures designed to ensure its fulfilment both regionally and in individual countries. The roundtable helped establish relationships and build trust between civil society and government authorities across the region through the exchange of experience and practices. In 2009, ODIHR expanded its efforts to support the capacity of NHRIs to monitor, report on and advocate the upholding and protecting of human rights standards in participating States. A study visit was organized for the newly appointed Tajik Ombudsman to the office of the Polish Commissioner for the Protection of Civil Rights. In recognition of an increasing tendency in the OSCE region to choose NHRIs as the bodies that monitor the implementation of the Optional Protocol under the UN Convention against Torture (OP-CAT), ODIHR is increasingly supporting NHRIs in establishing National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) in co-operation with civil society and other international organizations. A workshop on the establishment of an NPM was organized in November in Azerbaijan, in co-operation with the OSCE Office in Baku. ODIHR provided experts on NPMs for similar events in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The Office also supported human rights defenders through capacity building, raising awareness of specific cases with governments, and providing assistance to networks in the OSCE region, including in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Belarus. Such networks have proven to be successful safeguards for personal security and platforms to enhance the capacity of individuals to effectively defend human rights. Human Rights Human Rights Training and Education OSCE Ministerial Council Decision No. 11/05, “Promotion of Human Rights Education and Training in the OSCE Area”, called for further enhancement of the role of the OSCE, tasking ODIHR with the development of a compendium of good practices in human rights education. The resulting publication, Human Rights Education in the School Systems of Europe, Central Asia and North America: A Compendium of Good Practice, is the product of close collaboration with UNESCO, the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Council of Europe as partner institutions. The Compendium compiles 101 exemplary practices drawn from more than 30 OSCE participating States. These practices represent educational approaches that deal with numerous human rights issues that contemporary societies face today, including human rights violations, post-conflict tensions, conflict resolution and intolerance. The publication was presented at key regional human rights education events in Europe, including the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Education Forum for young people in Budapest, in October, and the Human Rights Forum in Lisbon, in November. The annex to the Compendium in English will be published in 2010, as will Russian- and French-language editions of the complete Compendium. ODIHR Annual Report 2009