HUMAN RIGHTS MAIN ISSUES Death Penalty The OSCE region has seen some notable developments, continuing the worldwide trend towards abolition. In the United States, the state of Washington introduced a moratorium on executions. Poland ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Protocol 13 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), abolishing the death penalty in all circumstances. requirements. Spontaneous assemblies and those without identifiable organizers continued to pose regulatory and practical challenges for many participating States. There continued to be reports of inappropriate police action, including dispersals of peaceful assemblies and disproportionate use of force. In a number of cases, however, authorities demonstrated good practice in facilitating public assemblies, including in challenging circumstances that posed significant security concerns. Human Rights Defenders Freedom of Peaceful Assembly Laws governing the operation of NGOs that impose over-bureaucratic administrative requirements and obstacles to the receipt of foreign funding, as well as practices of arbitrary checks, inspections, warnings and informal pressure, remained an issue of growing concern across the region in 2014. Such laws and practices fuelled stigmatization and put those working for NGOs at risk of harassment and violence, criminal prosecution and imprisonment. Throughout the OSCE area, undue restrictions to the right to assemble peacefully persisted. At times assemblies were banned, in other situations notification and/or authorization procedures were unduly burdensome. Laws often failed to provide effective remedies and accountability for violations or at times stipulated disproportionate sanctions for organizers failing to comply with procedural In several participating States human rights defenders continued to face stigmatization and smear campaigns – sometimes orchestrated by public authorities – portraying them as enemies of the people, traitors, spies or foreign agents. Human rights defenders were directly targeted in several OSCE participating states by the authorities, as well as violent groups. They suffered from attacks and Two participating States retain the death penalty, Belarus and the United States. The implementation of commitments not to use the death penalty in a manner contrary to international standards remains a challenge. UKRAINE | 2014 The crisis in Ukraine resulted in a sharp and oftentimes in the context of public deterioration of the human rights situation assemblies. The situation in Crimea posed there. The Human Rights Assessment additional concerns and, in particular, Mission conducted by ODIHR between the Mission heard credible allegations 6 March and 1 April jointly with the of enforced disappearances there. In a OSCE High Commissioner on National number of cases, victims were reportedly Minorities reported that a number of subjected to torture and other ill-treatment serious human rights violations occurred while in custody. As the crisis escalated during the reporting period. In particular, in Ukraine, further allegations of serious ODIHR collected allegations of attacks violations of human rights, in particular on, threats against and intimidation in conflict-affected areas, continued to be of journalists and activists, mostly in reported to ODIHR the south and the east of the country, 42 ODIHR Annual Report 2014