Human Rights participating States have committed themselves to consider and share information about ending capital punishment. Belarus and the United States remain the only countries in the OSCE area that still carry out executions, including in the course of 2012. Protecting Human Rights in the Fight against Terrorism Realizing that efforts to combat terrorism can only be successful if they are carried out in compliance with human rights standards, OSCE participating States have firmly committed themselves to protecting human rights while countering terrorism. However, there remain challenges in meeting this commitment. Broad and vague definitions of terrorism continue to be used in a number of participating States, curbing the freedom of expression of dissenting voices. Discriminatory measures that violate fundamental precepts of freedom of religion have been applied in some states. Actions to combat the financing of terrorist activities in other cases have had a negative impact on civil society organizations engaged in legitimate, often human rightsrelated activities. Security Sector, Human Rights and Gender The OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security commits OSCE participating States to protect the human rights of armed forces personnel, men and women alike. Nevertheless, problems persist in the security sector, ranging from a lack of understanding of the gender aspects of initiatives and policies and mistreatment and bullying of personnel, to denial of equal access to employment opportunities or undue restrictions on the exercise of civil and political rights of armed forces personnel. Insufficient or 46 ODIHR Annual Report 2012 non-existent independent oversight and compliance mechanisms, such as military ombudsperson institutions, limit avenues to redress these grievances. Trafficking in Human Beings OSCE participating States continue to fall short of the full implementation of human dimension commitments in the field of antitrafficking. Participants in the 2012 OSCE Human Dimension Seminar on the Rule of Law Framework for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings concluded that challenges remain in developing a human rights based and victim-centered approach to combating trafficking. They also noted that, although all forms of trafficking in human beings are criminalized in most OSCE participating States, the number of investigations and prosecutions remains very low and very few traffickers are convicted. ACTIVITIES ODIHR’s human rights activities can be divided into five programmatic areas: II Human rights monitoring and response; II Human rights education and capacity building; II Human rights and anti-terrorism; II Human rights, gender and security; and II Human rights and anti-trafficking. Human Rights Monitoring and Response On 8 and 9 November, ODIHR supported the Irish OSCE Chairmanship in organizing a Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Freedom of Assembly and Association. The two-day meeting brought together state and civil society representatives from OSCE participating States and Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation with the aim to advance the full implementation of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, while also taking into account the role played by new technologies.  On the margins of this meeting, ODIHR released its report on Monitoring the Freedom of Peaceful Assembly in Selected OSCE participating States. The 100-page report is the result of ODIHR’s human rights monitoring work carried out in 11 participating States from May 2011 to June 2012. Throughout the life of this project, ODIHR monitored 27 assemblies, demonstrations and counter-demonstrations. Of these, 15 took place in 2012 in Croatia, Hungary, Switzerland and the United States. The main goal of the monitoring was to identify gaps and challenges, as well as examples of good practices, in how participating States meet their commitments on freedom of peaceful assembly. The ensuing report includes the findings of the assembly observations, as well a set of recommendations to participating States aimed at promoting full compliance with OSCE human dimensation commitments. In advance of the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Freedom of Assembly and Association, ODIHR and the Irish OSCE Chairmanship jointly facilitated a Civil Society Forum, bringing together more than 70 participants from OSCE participating States and Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation to discuss good practices, opportunities and problems presented by the digital age and new technologies in the enjoyment and the promotion of the rights to freedom of association and freedom of peaceful assembly. Their recommendations were presented at the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting.