Human Rights ODIHR Director Christian Strohal (left) with Lyudmila Alekseeva, Chairperson of the Moscow Helsinki Group, in Warsaw, 19 September, where they both took part in Europe’s largest human rights and democracy conference, the OSCE’s Human Dimension OSCE Implementation Meeting. khstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, addressed such issues as international standards and the practices of long-term and life imprisonment, provided an overview of relevant legislation and practice in Central Asia, and saw arguments presented for various alternatives to the death penalty. Recommendations stemming from the conference covered the following areas: k The need for improved legislation; k The continuation of public-awareness campaigns; k The improvement of prison conditions and the treatment of prisoners; and k The involvement of non-governmental organizations in monitoring places of detention. II. Ensuring respect for human rights in the fight against terrorism Participating States from across the OSCE region face difficult questions related to human 56 rights issues raised by the fight against terrorism. One is how to balance the obligation to protect populations from terrorist attacks with the obligation to ensure that counter-terrorism measures do not themselves undermine the very rights that they seek to protect. The ODIHR provides assistance to states in the development of counter-terrorism strategies that are effective and comply with international human rights standards. A core part of this programme in 2005 was the development of a manual and training programme on human rights and counter-terrorism aimed at senior public officials involved in counter-terrorism. Two pilot training courses were held to advance this project: a national course in Kyrgyzstan in November and a regional course involving Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey, in Vienna in December. The second course was hosted by the Austrian Interior Ministry and organized in co-operation with the Council of Europe. The ANNUAL REPORT 2005