[ Democratization ]
Marta Achler, the Chief
of ODIHR’s Legislative
Support Unit, addresses
participants at a conference
entitled “Better Regulation
in Eastern Europe” held in
Tbilisi, 21 October 2011.
(Photo: Levan
Chkhatarashvili)
Commission in 2010. Based on these guidelines and its
expertise, ODIHR’s democratic governance programme
continued to provide support and advice on how to best
protect and advance political pluralism to participating
States and their institutions, OSCE field operations and
civil society.
The registration and financing of political parties —
based on the principles contained in the guidelines
— were key focus areas for ODIHR’s support in 2011.
In Georgia, ODIHR worked with the Central Election
Commission and a number of civil society organizations to organize a special “Conference on Political
Party Funding and Women’s Participation in Political
Life”, on 29 and 30 June. This contributed to the introduction of amendments to the Election Code, adopted
in December, that introduce financial incentives for
political parties to include more women on party lists.
ODIHR participated in discussions of political-party
regulation at events organized by OSCE field operations
and local think tanks and civil society in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and in Moldova.
ODIHR also continued to help civil society organizations increase their analytical capacity and abilities to
advocate for policy reform, providing assistance in the
development of comprehensive assessment reports on
political-party regulations in their countries. ODIHR
worked closely with the think tank National Association
of Political Scientists in Tajikistan (NAPST), sharing
its know-how and tools in the development of a comprehensive report on political-party regulation, to be
published in 2012.
Migration and Freedom
of Movement
OSCE participating States have committed themselves
to facilitating the movement of people and protecting
human rights, including those of migrant workers, refugees and displaced and stateless persons. Progress in the
application of these commitments in the OSCE region,
however, has been uneven, as those forcibly displaced
often face obstacles to accessing international protection, and voluntary migrants experience various direct
and indirect barriers to the exercise of basic human
rights. To address these concerns, ODIHR provides
assistance to OSCE participating States in the development of human rights-based migration policies and
legislation, with a particular focus on gender-sensitive
migration policies.
In the OSCE context, freedom of movement extends
beyond the movement of people within and across borders of their own states to include entry procedures for
ODIHR Annual Report 2011
35
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