Freedom of Peaceful Assembly In addition to developing the Human Rights Training Guide to Policing Assemblies (see previous section), ODIHR undertook a number of other activities to promote Freedom of Peaceful Assembly in 2012. The Office monitored assemblies in four participating States (Croatia, Hungary, Switzerland, and the United States of America). This involved the observation and assessment of police practice in the context of public assemblies. In particular, ODIHR monitoring assessed to what extent peaceful assemblies are facilitated by police forces and other competent authorities, if police restrictions on such peaceful assemblies are only imposed on grounds that are legitimate under OSCE commitments and international human rights law, and if use of force by law enforcement officials during assemblies strictly adheres to the principles of necessity and proportionality. The findings of the ODIHR assembly monitoring work in the period in question are provided in the Report on Monitoring of Freedom of Peaceful Assembly in Selected OSCE Participating States (May 2011-June 2012) 31, which was presented on the margins of the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting in November 2012. In 2012, ODIHR prepared two legal opinions on freedom of assembly laws of OSCE participating States: a Joint OSCE/ODIHR-Venice Commission Opinion on the Law on Mass Events of the Republic of Belarus (20 March 2012); and a Note on the Draft Law amending the Law on Assemblies of Poland (21 May 2012). 32 Both opinions may serve for organizing follow-up events in the respective countries, such as training sessions for police officers on the lawful and efficient policing of assemblies. Human Rights, Gender & Security (HRGS) In 2012, ODIHR continued to implement training based on the Gender and Security Sector Reform Toolkit 33 on how a gender perspective is relevant to security sector reform processes, such as police reform. The training targets security sector actors, including police, and raises their awareness of the gender implications of their work and how to better respond to security issues that predominately affect women, such as domestic violence. At the request of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) of the Kyrgyz Republic, OSCE/ODIHR implemented a training based on the Toolkit on 8 June 2012 in Bishkek. The training was developed for senior and mid-level management of the Ministry and focused on the importance of developing an internal gender mainstreaming strategy. If the Ministry develops such a strategy, police officers in Kyrgyzstan can better respond to women’s needs and address prevalent cases of domestic violence. There were 28 high ranking officers present at the training. Together with UN Women, ODIHR trained 25 members of the patrol police in Gori, Georgia on 11 June 2012. Participants were officers responsible for responding to domestic violence calls coming from town residents and from internally displaced persons in settlements nearby. Training evaluations confirmed that the comparative approach of exchanging procedures and lessons learned from other countries via practical exercises had a positive impact on the participants. On 11-12 December, ODIHR organized two training sessions for a total of 55 law enforcement officers from throughout Kyrgyzstan. They were organized at the request of 31 32 33 OSCE/ODIHR, Report on Monitoring of Freedom of Peaceful Assembly in Selected OSCE Participating States (May 2011 – June 2012), Warsaw, 2012, at: http://www.osce.org/odihr/97055 www.legislationline.org OSCE/ODIHR, DCAF and UN INSTRAW, Gender and Security Sector Reform Toolkit, Warsaw, at: http://www.osce.org/odihr/30652 149