APPENDIX 1
ODIHR Annual Report on
Police-Related Activities for 2016
Submitted as appendix to the SG Annual Report on Police-Related Activities, in accordance
with Decision 9, paragraph 6, of the Bucharest Ministerial Council Meeting, 4 December 2001
Introduction
The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (ODIHR) provides police-related assistance to
governments and civil society in OSCE participating
States in close co-operation with other OSCE executive
structures and international organizations.
General Police Development
and Reform
Police Development and
Reform within Security Sector Reform
(including Gender Mainstreaming)
In 2016, ODIHR received several requests for legislative
assistance concerning the review of criminal procedure
codes or legislation, in particular pertaining to biasmotivated crimes, counter-terrorism and the crime of forced
disappearance. Following these requests, ODIHR prepared
legal opinions providing concrete recommendations for
amendments of respective draft or existing legislation to
ensure their compliance with relevant international standards
and OSCE commitments. ODIHR closely collaborated
with the Transnational Threats Department (TNTD)’s
Action Against Terrorism Unit (ATU) to prepare the legal
Opinion on the Draft Amendments to the Legal Framework
on Countering Extremism and Terrorism in the Republic of
Kazakhstan1, which was published on 6 October. ODIHR
also supported the process of amending the criminal codes of
Moldova and of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
by reviewing and commenting on draft provisions pertaining
to bias-motivated crimes2. ODIHR provided legislative
134
1
OSCE/ODIHR Opinion on the Draft Amendments to the Legal Framework on
Countering Extremism and Terrorism in the Republic of Kazakhstan (6 October 2016),
available at http://www.legislationline.org/documents/id/20060 (English version) and
http://www.legislationline.org/ru/documents/id/20061 (Russian version).
2
OSCE/ODIHR Comments on Draft Amendments to certain Provisions of the Criminal
Code of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia regarding Bias-motivated Crimes
(14 April 2016), available at http://www.legislationline.org/topics/country/31/topic/4;
and Opinion on Draft Amendments to the Moldovan Criminal and Contravention
Codes relating to Bias-motivated Offences (15 March 2016), available at http://www.
legislationline.org/topics/country/14/topic/4.
assistance to the Republic of Armenia by reviewing and
commenting on certain provisions of its Criminal Procedure
Code pertaining to the presence of attesting witnesses
during criminal investigations3, to Tunisia, as an OSCE
Mediterranean Partner for Co-operation, by analyzing its
Draft Act on the Crime of Enforced Disappearance4, and to
Ukraine by reviewing draft legislation on freedom of peaceful
assembly, including comments pertaining to the policing of
assemblies5.
In addition to legislative assistance, ODIHR also promoted
exchanges of good practices on current criminal justice
reforms and police matters in Central Asia at ODIHR’s Sixth
Expert Forum on Criminal Justice for Central Asia, organized
in Tashkent from 16 to 18 November. The Expert Forum was
organized in partnership with the OSCE field operations
in Central Asia, particularly the Project Co-ordinator in
Uzbekistan (PCUz) and the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime (UNODC). Issues related to police evaluation,
‘clear-up rates’ and law-enforcement agent training needs for
gender-sensitive interactions with female victims of crimes
were discussed. In particular, participants observed that
police performance evaluation methodologies should not,
directly or indirectly, foster reliance on evidence obtained
under torture.
3
OSCE/ODIHR Opinion on the Draft Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of
the Republic of Armenia (15 July 2016), available at http://www.legislationline.org/
documents/id/20011.
4
OSCE/ODIHR Opinion on the Draft Act on the Crime of Enforced Disappearance
of Tunisia (6 May 2016), available at http://www.legislationline.org/countries/
country/63.
5
Available at http://www.legislationline.org/topics/country/52/topic/15.
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