"While we recognize that the threat of terrorism requires specific measures, we call on all governments to refrain from any excessive steps which would violate fundamental freedoms and undermine legitimate dissent. In pursuing the objective of eradicating terrorism, it is essential that States strictly adhere to their international obligations to uphold human rights and fundamental freedoms." Joint statement by the ODIHR, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Council of Europe, 29 November 2001 In July, the ODIHR, the OSCE Centre in Almaty, and the of Action (2001) and the OSCE Charter on Preventing Kazakh Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law or- and Combating Terrorism (2002). The Bucharest Plan of ganized a roundtable in Kazakhstan on the rights of Action established a framework for comprehensive people sentenced to capital punishment. The meeting, OSCE action fully respecting international law, and in which brought together 26 participants representing particular international human-rights law. It tasks the the Kazakh Government and civil society, as well as in- ODIHR to address factors that engender conditions in ternational experts, focused in particular on the rights which terrorist organizations are able to recruit and of those subjected to the moratorium on the death win support and further states that the ODIHR will be penalty in Kazakhstan. active in the strengthening of democratic institutions and respect for human rights, tolerance, and multicul- To promote informed discussion on the death penalty turalism. and its abolition, the Office, in co-operation with the European Commission and the BBC, developed a series A comprehensive approach to combating terrorism re- of radio programmes that were broadcast throughout quires preventive action. The ODIHR has initiated pro- Central Asia in December, in both Uzbek and Kyrgyz. grammes intended to promote human rights, build The programmes discussed the issue of capital punish- democratic institutions, and strengthen the rule of law ment from political, legal, cultural, religious, and moral as key components that enable states to address the points of view, and invited opinions from an array of various social, economic, political, and other factors people, including relatives of victims, death-row pris- that engender conditions in which terrorist and ex- oners, mothers of executed criminals, legal experts, tremist organizations may recruit or win support. human-rights defenders, and clergy. The programmes provided a broad forum for debate on this subject; this In 2004, the ODIHR collected and compiled anti-terror- debate will be made available to a wider audience in ism legislation from all OSCE participating States. This 2005, as the programmes will be translated and broad- information can be found on the Legislationline web- cast in Russian. site at www.legislationline.org. Organized by subject and country, the online compilation is intended as a re- 2. Ensuring respect for human rights in the fight against terrorism source for lawmakers in the OSCE region, while also guiding the ODIHR's work in providing technical assistance to participating States with respect to their implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1373 The main OSCE documents outlining commitments to and the 12 international conventions and protocols on prevent and combat terrorism are the Bucharest Plan anti-terrorism. 56