Human Rights Maj Britt Theorin, the Chairperson of the Sweden-based NGO Operation 1325, (r) listens as keynote speaker Detective Inspector Khizra Dhindsa, representing the Association of Chief Police Officers of England and Wales, (l) speaks at an OSCE-organized expert meeting focusing on ways of empowering women in countering violent extremism and radicalization that leads to terrorism, Vienna, 12 March 2012. (OSCE/Mehdi Knani) since. Nevertheless, human rights defenders in the OSCE area continue to face challenges in carrying out their legitimate work to promote and protect human rights. These have included physical assaults, attacks and threats, restrictions on the freedoms of association, expression or movement, and use of fiscal and administrative measures to restrict their activity. 2012 saw the release of prominent human rights defender Evgeny Zhovtis in Kazakhstan, but Azimzhan Askarov from Kyrgyzstan and Ales Bialiatsky from Belarus remain in prison. Repeating its calls for concrete OSCE action to ensure the protection of human rights defenders, a commitment adopted by participating States in Budapest in 1994, the 2012 OSCE Parallel Civil Society Conference held on the margins of the Dublin Ministerial Council meeting on 5 December recommended that guiding OSCE principles on the protection of human rights defenders be created. Progress was made towards the establishment of a Secretariat of the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), which is due to become fully operational in 2013. The body was created to co-ordinate the activities of 40 such institutions from across Europe. ODIHR has received reports that a lack of financial resources is negatively affecting the ability of NHRIs in a number of participating States to effectively carry out their mandate. Prevention of Torture OSCE participating States have committed themselves to prohibit and take measures to prevent torture and other ill-treatment. Nevertheless, torture and other forms of ill-treatment remain pervasive in the OSCE area. This stems from the inadequate training of law enforcement o ­ fficers, poor detention conditions and a lack of will to address this problem through the effective investigation and punishment of acts of torture and other ill-treatment. In 2012 two OSCE participating States, H ­ ungary and Austria, became parties to the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The instrument provides for the establishment of a National Preventive Mechanism for the prevention of torture. The Death Penalty With Latvia’s ratification of Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which abolished the use of the death penalty in all cases, the number of OSCE participating States that have now completely abolished the death penalty has reached 51. OSCE ODIHR Annual Report 2012 45