APPENDIX 1
From 7 to 9 November, ODIHR representatives conducted
meetings with state officials and civil society organizations
as part of a needs assessment visit to Iceland at the invitation
of the government of Iceland. During the visit, ODIHR
also held a half-day workshop for 15 senior officials (nine
women and six men) to raise awareness about hate crimes
and to present the TAHCLE and Prosecutors and Hate
Crimes Training (PAHCT13) Programmes. At the workshop,
ODIHR facilitated discussions on hate crime incidents
in Iceland and the existing national legal framework to
address them along with shortcomings. The discussions
sparked a lively and constructive exchange between
participants representing all branches of the criminal
justice system, which was highly appreciated by them. On
29 December, Icelandic authorities and ODIHR signed an
MoU for the implementation of both the TAHCLE and
PAHCT Programmes14. The MoU foresees the training of
ten Icelandic police officers and ten Icelandic prosecutors
as trainers for TAHCLE and PAHCT courses, respectively.
The training activities are to be conducted in 2017.
From 5 to 7 December, in response to a request by the Maltese
Academy of Discipline Forces for ODIHR’s assistance in
implementing TAHCLE in Malta, ODIHR visited Malta to
conduct a series of meetings with government officials and
civil society organizations to gather information about the
hate crime situation in Malta. During the NAM, ODIHR
also negotiated the modalities of TAHCLE implementation
in Malta and the provisions of the MoU, which is expected
to be signed in early 2017. ODIHR also facilitated an
awareness-raising workshop on hate crimes for 14 police
officers and investigators (seven men, seven women) of
the Malta Police Force. Following the presentation of the
TAHCLE Programme, ODIHR delivered modules on hate
crime definition, international standards, relevant national
legislation and the impact of hate crimes. In their feedback,
participants welcomed the interactive and engaging nature of
the session and the training materials.
ODIHR also reviewed draft amendments to the criminal
codes of Moldova and the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia pertaining to bias-motivated crimes in 2016.
The revised draft amendments of the Criminal Code of
Moldova revealed the positive impact that ODIHR expertise
had had on the draft amendments, as more than half of the
key recommendations were taken into account during the
revision process.
Public Order and Crisis Management
In 2016, ODIHR finished its 3rd Assembly Monitoring
Cycle to support participating States in the implementation
of their commitments on freedom of peaceful assembly
and published a thematic report that included the main
findings and recommendations based on the observation
of 77 assemblies in seven OSCE participating States15. The
facilitation of the exercise of freedom of peaceful assembly
by police was one of the key aspects of ODIHR’s assessment.
ODIHR also conducted assembly monitoring exercises
in Sweden and Poland, including the observation of 13
assemblies. The composition of the monitoring teams was
seven men and seven women.
During 2016, ODIHR, in co-operation with the EUAM,
delivered two training sessions on human rights-compliant
policing of assemblies in Ukraine for a total of 48 public order
police commanders and representatives from the national
guard (45 men and 3 women). The training sessions were
based on the newly developed Human Rights Handbook on
Policing Assemblies16, published in March, which provides
key information for police commanders on assemblies and
public order management. The three-day interactive training
sessions focused on international human rights standards,
the key principles of assembly policing, the planning and
decision-making model, communication and accountability.
Other
In 2016, ODIHR observed 15 elections across the OSCE
region to assess compliance with OSCE commitments,
international obligations, and other standards for democratic
elections, as well as to offer concrete recommendations to
support participating States in improving their electoral
processes. Aspects assessed included the activities of the
police in implementing and enforcing relevant aspects of
the legal framework throughout the various stages of an
election. To complement an existing array of handbooks
devoted to various aspects of election observation, ODIHR
initiated the development of guidelines on the role of
public security providers in elections. The guidelines aim
to ensure that the assessment of the role and performance
of public security providers during an election are carried
out in a professional and consistent manner, as well as
to assist public security providers in performing their
election-related functions. The guidelines are expected to
be published in the second half of 2017.
13
Prosecutors and Hate Crimes Training (PAHCT) Programme, http://www.osce.org/
odihr/pahct.
15
Monitoring of Freedom of Peaceful Assembly in Selected OSCE Participating States
(April 2015 – July 2016), http://www.osce.org/odihr/289721
14
OSCE/ODIHR news item is available at http://www.osce.org/odihr/291591.
16
Human Rights Handbook on Policing Assemblies, http://www.osce.org/odihr/226981
137
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