The year 2011 also provided a reminder that the work of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is not yet completed; in reflecting on the Office’s achievements, we recognize that more remains to be done. In the field of elections, ODIHR observed or assessed a total of 20 elections in 19 participating States. This brought the total number of participating States in which ODIHR has conducted some form of observation activity to 53. Almost 2,000 observers from 48 participating States were deployed over the course of the year. The Office also continued to focus on follow-up to recommendations included in election reports, by presenting recommendations in final reports to and discussing them with the authorities and a wide variety of stakeholders in a number of participating States. The review of electoral legislation has become a central element in this process, and ODIHR continued in 2011 to offer comments on and assessments of draft legislation, often in co-operation with the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission. ODIHR co-operated with the Commission in the publication of 12 legal reviews of electoral legislation in nine participating States. In this same vein, a Human Dimension Seminar focusing on the role of political parties in the political process hosted by the Office in Warsaw in May saw the publication of the Guidelines on Political Party Regulation, also produced in co-operation with the Venice Commission. Trial monitoring continued to be an important part of ODIHR’s democratization activities in 2011, with a prime example being the monitoring of 12 trials, involving 41 defendants, five of whom were former candidates, charged in relation to the demonstrations in Minsk following the Belarus presidential election on 19 December 2010. The monitoring was carried out with the agreement of the Belarusian authorities, and the Office offered recommendations for addressing identified shortcomings in a report published in November. October saw the conclusion of the 4 million euro War Crimes Justice Project, aimed at strengthening the capacity of national judiciaries in dealing with war crimes, ahead of the closure of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). With funding from the European Union and in co-operation with the ICTY, the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute and OSCE field operations in the region, the project developed the first-ever training resource on international criminal law and practice for local justice actors. It also provided specialized training to more than 800 justice professionals working on war crimes cases and produced more than 60,000 pages of transcripts in local languages of the most relevant ICTY proceedings. The promotion of tolerance and non-discrimination throughout the OSCE area is another important focus for the Office, and October saw the publication of the Guidelines for Educators on Countering Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims, the first international document of its kind. The guidelines were developed in partnership with UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The next month, a Supplementary Human Dimension meeting in Vienna focused on the role educational and awareness-raising initiatives can play in preventing racism, xenophobia and hate crimes, and highlighted the even greater need to combat racism in times of economic and financial crisis. The Office’s work in the area of human rights included the launch of two new resources: the Handbook on Monitoring Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, which draws on good practices in monitoring assemblies in various participating States, and Associationline, a web-based guide to freedom of association for state authorities and civil society. Gender equality and increasing women’s participation in public life remain priorities for ODIHR, and the Office’s activities in this area in 2011 included the launch of the “Women in Political Parties” project, aimed at enhancing knowledge of voluntary measures that can increase the number of women among political party leaders, decision-makers and candidates. The ODIHR Contact Point on Roma and Sinti Issues continued to focus on promoting the implementation of the 2003 OSCE Action Plan, including during the HDIM, where special events focused on the role of media and Roma organizations in countering prejudices and negative stereotypes, and on challenges, risks and responses with regard to extremism and Roma and Sinti in Europe. In all of these activities, ODIHR has worked within its mandate to assist participating States in meeting their OSCE commitments in the human dimension, which are based on the very same understanding of dignity, freedom and respect for human rights that spurred the Arab Spring. Just as much important and difficult work lays ahead for our Mediterranean Partners, much still needs to be done to make the promises of the human dimension commitments a reality across the OSCE region. ODIHR is grateful for the support it has received from participating States in this endeavor over the past year, during which we marked the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Office, and looks forward to further co-operation with governments and civil society in the future. Ambassador Janez Lenarčič Director OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) ODIHR Annual Report 2011 5