ANNUAL REPORT 2004 Democratization Rule of Law Rule of Law The fundamental principle underlying the notion of rule the use of torture by rewarding and promoting police of law is the equitable treatment of individual human officers and prosecutors for numbers of "cases solved" beings. A state can be said to recognize the rule of law and even punishing those who fail to "solve" cases. In only when a number of conditions are being met. First, these conditions, impunity for torturers is the norm. individual citizens should be aware of their rights, meaning that laws have to be made public. Second,
Penal-policy reform: The Soviet Union left a diffi- everyone must be equal under the law. In other words, cult legacy to many of its successor states in the area of all citizens should be treated fairly, and they should penal policy. Incarceration, rather than probation or know what to expect from that treatment. It also means other non-custodial measures, continues to be the pre- that no one should be given preferential treatment ferred form of punishment for both adults and juve- based on factors such as wealth or social status. niles. The result is large prison populations and overcrowding with poor conditions that do not comply In a number of cases in the OSCE region, countries are with international standards and that have led to a undergoing a transition to democracy; this transition number of negative consequences, including severe requires significant cultural and attitudinal changes. health problems among inmates. Such changes take, by nature, a long period of time. Thus, the ODIHR's work in the field of the rule of law Activities involves ongoing, long-term programmes. The ODIHR conducted activities in 2004 in two main areas: Main issues
Criminal-justice reform; and
Fair trials: In many parts of the OSCE region, neces-
Fair trials; sary safeguards for assuring a fair trial are either not in place or are not properly observed. There are also sys- Within this framework, the ODIHR implements targeted tematic problems related to the practice of law, as activities in eight OSCE participating States: Belarus; lawyers suffer from inadequate training and poor legal Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in structures; and citizens suffer from the lack of afford- Central Asia; and Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in able professional legal assistance. the South Caucasus. In 2004, the ODIHR also began doing limited work in South-Eastern Europe, particular-
Torture: Despite clear OSCE commitments and in- ly on issues relating to war crimes. ternational human-rights obligations prohibiting it, torture continues to be used, all too frequently, The ODIHR uses expertise from a variety of sources, throughout the OSCE region. In far too many coun- stressing good practices developing in various OSCE tries, torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or participating States. In 2004, more than 80 per cent of punishment are a routine part of the criminal process. the experts used by the Rule of Law Unit came from Convictions rely on confessions; these confessions are emerging democracies. Included in this pool was a large often obtained through the use of torture as the main number of experts from Russia on both criminal-justice investigatory technique of many police officers. Crimi- reform and activities in the area of fair trials, particular- nal-justice systems often reinforce the continuation of ly legal-skills training. 21