1 OSCE ODIHR and international /regional human rights law and related case-law Tina Gewis, Chief of Rule of Law Unit, ODIHR Strasbourg, 20 October 2015

2 OSCE Commitments & human rights  OSCE is a regional security organisation with 57 participating States, 10 of which are not member states of the Council of Europe (US, Canada, Belarus, 5 Central Asian states, Mongolia, Holy See)  ODIHR is mandated to assist OSCE participating States in the implementation of OSCE human dimension commitments (including human rights)  OSCE commitments reflect major international and regional (European) human rights law & standards  Concept of “politically binding commitments”, adopted by consensus

3 ODIHR Legislative Guidelines  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly  Freedom of Association (2014 rev.) – jointly with CoE Venice Commission  On the Legal Personality of Religious or Belief Communities  Guidance for policy and law-makers, containing reference to ECtHR, UN HRC and IACtHR case-law and intl/reg human rights standards

4 ODIHR Legal Reviews - Opinions  Upon request by participating States  Analysing draft or existing legislation on “human dimension” topics, often jointly with CoE Venice Commission  Assessing compliance with OSCE commitments and intl/reg human rights obligations, as applicable  Offering recommendations to authorities  If non-CoE member states: ECHR and ECtHR case-law as “useful and persuasive reference documents”

5 OSCE ODIHR Trial Monitoring  Assessing the compliance of court practice with national legislation and international fair trial standards (incl ECtHR case law, UN HRC)  Providing recommendations to national authorities and other judicial stakeholders on how to improve the respect for fair trial rights, both in law and practice  Also looks at reasoning of judgments and reference to intl/reg human rights law and case-law

6 ODIHR tools on Trial Monitoring -Legal Digest of International Fair Trial Rights (2012, EN/RUS/FR) -Trial Monitoring: A Reference Manual for Practitioners (rev.2012, EN/RUS/FR) -Handbook for Monitoring Administrative Justice (2013, EN/RUS)

7 Monitoring the Freedom of Assembly  Initiated upon invitation by participating States  Monitoring public events / assemblies  Assessing compliance with intl/reg freedom of assembly standards and best practices  Reference to relevant ECtHR case-law  So far, 2 public reports (2012, 2014), third round currently ongoing

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