Childerik Schaapveld (right) and Jakhongir Azizkhodjaev (centre) of the ODIHR's NGO Unit meeting with a participant at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw in October. The ODIHR organized the participation of more than 200 NGOs, the most ever, at last year's meeting.
Torture: Torture and ill-treatment in detention are of velopment of democracy, preventing free elections - a ne- great concern in the OSCE region, and there are reliable re- cessity for the legitimacy of any government - and having a ports that such practices continue to occur in a number of particularly harmful effect on the growth of civil society. participating States. Though torture and inhuman or degrading treatment are absolutely prohibited under interna- The ODIHR addresses these issues first by monitoring the ob- tional law, states often resort to these measures, especially in servance of human dimension commitments in OSCE partic- light of new security concerns. Torture also remains a routine ipating States in a number of thematic areas, especially free- part of the criminal-investigation process in many parts of dom of religion or belief, the use of the death penalty, and the OSCE region, often being used to obtain a confession the right to a fair trial. It also organizes meetings that ad- and a subsequent conviction. dress human rights issues and provide a forum for exchanging information and best practices on dealing with issues of
Fair trials: The right to a fair trial encompasses a range major importance. In doing so, the ODIHR co-ordinates of minimum standards, including the rights to a fair and closely with other international organizations and NGOs, es- public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent pecially the Council of Europe and the United Nations Office and impartial tribunal. In a number of OSCE participating of the High Commissioner on Human Rights. States, there is a widespread lack of confidence regarding the compliance of the legal system with these minimum standards. The ODIHR carries out a number of activities Programmes aimed at promoting various aspects of the right to a fair trial, including trial monitoring, which seeks to facilitate trans- The activities conducted by the Human Rights Section in parency and provide independent and impartial reports on 2003 concentrated on the following areas: compliance with international and domestic standards.

Freedom of association and assembly: These funda- Monitoring the observance of human dimension commitments; mental freedoms are not fully respected in many OSCE par-
ticipating States; this is particularly the case in times of pub- Ensuring respect for human rights in the fight against terrorism; and lic emergency and often in the period immediately prior to
an election. The curtailing of these freedoms harms the de- 52 Human rights training and education.