Civil Society Civil society, as defined and targeted by the ODIHR, is an in- affect an entire population. As a result, important voices are clusive concept that refers to the voluntary participation of not heard in the decision-making process; expertise is some- citizens in all aspects of societal life either directly, through times overlooked because of political considerations. organizations, or through governmental institutions. The ODIHR seeks to strengthen this participation in line with the Programmes OSCE commitments on civil society in general and on NGOs in particular. The ODIHR aims not just to support democracy but, more importantly, to ensure its viability by working at The activities conducted by the NGO Unit in 2003 could be the civic and governmental levels simultaneously. divided into the following areas: The ODIHR's role in this process is to establish dialogue be-
Civic diplomacy; tween governmental and non-governmental actors on a
Human rights monitoring and reporting training; number of issues, including human rights and legislation af-
Civic dialogue; and fecting the functioning of civil society. It supports reconcilia-
NGO participation in OSCE events. tion efforts in post-conflict areas; organizes training programmes to enhance the capacity of human rights defenders; and facilitates the participation of NGOs in major 1. Civic diplomacy OSCE events, including Summits, Review Conferences, and Human Dimension Meetings and Seminars. Where guns have been silenced but the post-conflict political environment keeps opposing officials from establishing new ties, an important alternative is offered by involving The main issues civic groups and NGOs in building bridges. By avoiding confrontational nationalistic and political agendas, relations are
Post-conflict reconciliation: In the aftermath of any established in fields of common interest where strong local conflict, one of the most difficult tasks is rebuilding relations. support can be found on both sides of the divide. While ini- An atmosphere of mistrust creates tension that can prevent tially concentrating on specific issues such as family reunifi- the reconciliation process from moving forward. An impor- cation, environment, education, children, etc., the objective tant role for civil society on both sides of any conflict is to is to gradually broaden the platform to include more actors identify common interests to help reduce existing tension such as the media and authorities. This increases the direct and find a starting point for dialogue flow of information, promotes understanding for the "other's" point of view, and contributes to a good-neigh-
Protecting human rights: Protecting the human rights bourly climate. The non-biased and authentic motivation of of every individual requires a concerted effort, especially common interests makes it harder for anyone to turn away where those rights are often abused. Two of the primary from the negotiating table. aspects of any protection efforts are sound monitoring and credible reporting. The ODIHR has supported civil society in the reconciliation
Strengthening civil society: Because of the mistrust In 2003, the ODIHR supported the Association of Abkhaz- some governments have for non-governmental organiza- Georgian Mixed Families in its attempts to keep members of tions, civil society is sometimes excluded from matters that some 4,000 families on opposite sides of this conflict in touch process in numerous post-conflict situations in recent years. 24