ANNUAL REPORT 2003 Democratization Rule of Law Rule of Law The fundamental principle underlying the notion of rule of
Fair trials: In many parts of the OSCE region, necessary law is the equitable treatment of individual human beings. A safeguards for assuring a fair trial are either not in place or state can be said to recognize the rule of law only when a are not properly observed. There are systematic problems re- number of conditions are being met. First, individual citizens lated to the practice of law. Lawyers suffer from inadequate should be aware of their rights, which means that laws have training and poor legal structures; citizens suffer from the to be made public. Second, everyone must be equal under lack of affordable professional legal assistance. the law. This means that all citizens should be treated fairly and that they should know what to expect from that treat- Programmes ment. It also means that no one should be given preferential treatment based on factors such as wealth or social status. The Rule of Law Unit conducted activities in 2003 in three In numerous cases in the OSCE region, countries are undergo- programmatic areas: ing a transition to democracy; this transition requires significant cultural and attitudinal changes. Such changes take, by nature,
Criminal-justice reform; a long period of time. Thus, the ODIHR's work in the field of
Fair trials; and the rule of law involves ongoing, long-term programmes.
Rule of law. Within this framework, the ODIHR implements targeted proj- The main issues ects in eight OSCE participating States: Belarus; Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in Central Asia; and
Torture: Despite clear OSCE commitments and interna- Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in the South Caucasus. tional human rights obligations prohibiting it, torture continues to be used, all too frequently, throughout the OSCE The ODIHR generally takes a two-tiered approach to rule-of- region. In far too many countries, torture and inhuman or law work: top-down and bottom-up. The reasoning behind degrading treatment or punishment are a routine part of the this approach is that the attitudinal shift needed requires the criminal process. Convictions rely on confessions; these con- support and active participation of the government; it also fessions are all too often obtained through the use of torture needs to engage civil society. The ODIHR is well-placed to as the main investigatory technique of many police officers. play a role in both approaches. As a political body, the Criminal-justice systems often reinforce the continuation of ODIHR often has access to government officials that non- the use of torture by rewarding and promoting police offi- governmental organizations do not have. At the same time, cers and prosecutors for numbers of "cases solved" and the ODIHR works closely with civil society, encouraging en- even punishing those who fail to "solve" cases. In these gagement in rule-of-law work, often laying the groundwork conditions, impunity for torturers is the norm. for non-governmental organizations and other international organizations to continue.
Prison reform: The Soviet Union left a difficult legacy to many of its successor states in the penitentiary sphere: Large Co-operation with resident field missions of the OSCE is prison populations have resulted in overcrowding; poor con- vital, as those on the ground in the relevant countries are ditions that do not comply with international standards have able to react quickly to developments in governmental poli- led to a number of negative consequences, including the cies or to cases that require OSCE involvement. presence of severe health problems among inmates. 19