DEMOCRATIZATION UKRAINE | 2014 Throughout 2014, ODIHR provided timely on drafts of two anti-corruption laws, a law opinions on the quickly evolving legislative combating cybercrime, amendments to laws framework in Ukraine. ODIHR reviewed covering financing political parties and amendments to certain laws passed on 16 election campaigns and a law governing January as the landscape of the conflict police activities. shifted. The Office also provided feedback On 26 to 28 November in Tbilisi, ODIHR organized the Annual Trial Monitoring Meeting, which brought together 50 participants from OSCE field operations, national and international NGOs and, for the first time, NGOs from OSCE Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation. Participants exchanged experiences and discussed challenges related to the practical application of trial-monitoring principles, including non-intervention, objectivity and confidentiality. Criminal Justice Reform In light of the large number of ongoing judicial reform processes in the OSCE region, criminal justice remained at the center of ODIHR’s democratization work in 2014. The Fifth Expert Forum on Criminal Justice in Central Asia was organized by ODIHR in co-operation with OSCE Field Operations in Central Asia and the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime on 24 and 25 November in Bishkek, The forum supported exchanges of experience and expertise among criminal justice experts from across the OSCE region in discussions on recent reforms, trends and initiatives in the criminal justice area in Central Asia. More than 70 law- and policymakers, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, academics and representatives of civil society organizations exchanged information and good practices on a wide range of topics related to criminal law and procedure, such as enhancing the equality of arms between the prosecution and the defence, judicial control in the pre-trial phase, and gender aspects in criminal justice delivery. Throughout 2014, in co-operation with the Council of Europe, ODIHR supported criminal justice reform efforts in Georgia by reviewing and commenting on its Criminal Procedure Code and providing concrete recommendations for amendments. In Montenegro, ODIHR also provided expertise supporting criminal procedure reform and prosecution-related 28 ODIHR Annual Report 2014 legislation by commenting on the legal framework on the prevention of and on combating violence against women and domestic violence. Administrative Justice The OSCE applies a comprehensive approach to trial monitoring, covering criminal as well as administrative proceedings. Administrative justice is an increasingly important area of ODIHR’s trial-monitoring activities. As follow-up to the 2013 launch of the Handbook on Monitoring Administrative Justice, ODIHR and Sweden’s Folke Bernadotte Academy supported the OSCE Mission in Kosovo in April 2014 by providing expertise and presenting the handbook’s methodology to support the implementation of the Mission’s project on monitoring administrative justice. Supporting the Adjudication of War Crimes ODIHR continues supporting participating States in South Eastern Europe in addressing the challenges related to combatting impunity for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. ODIHR organized a regional conference on 19 and 20 May in Sarajevo on the role of national jurisdictions in implementing international law, including international humanitarian and criminal law and human rights law, in co-operation with the International Committee of the Red Cross, the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Swiss Embassy and the country’s courts. The regional conference brought together 65 judges, prosecutors, defence attorneys, NGOs and academics from across Europe to assess the current status of domestic prosecutions of international law violations in the region, and exchange good practices on war crime prosecution and adjudication. In addition, participants debated how to foster co-operation in criminal procedures and national reconciliation. The conference was implemented within the framework of the second phase of the Office’s War Crimes Justice Project.