Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Concept

The OSCE participating States committed themselves in the 1990 Charter of Paris for a New Europe "...to build, consolidate and strengthen democracy as the only system of government of [their] nations". The Copenhagen Document had previously identified 21 elements of democracy that "are essential to the full expression of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all human beings".

Beginning with the 1991 Human Dimension Expert Seminar on "Democratic Institutions", the OSCE has recognized that it is "necessary to develop a democratic culture, on the local, regional and national level, in order to sustain new democratic institutions".

In practice, democratization is a continuous dual effort of "fine-tuning" democratic structures and processes and nurturing a democratic culture based on respect for human rights, the rule of law, peace, and security. Democracy is not restricted to one-off electoral events; it also requires democratic institutions that discharge their electoral mandate through consensus-driven, open, and transparent processes.

Background

The May 2004 OSCE Human Dimension Seminar on "Democratic Institutions and Democratic Governance" stressed that, while democracy has made great gains in the OSCE region in recent years, there is still a need to strengthen democratic practices in order to complement more traditional institution-building activities. The participants recommended improving the transparency and inclusiveness of policy-making processes as a means of furthering implementation of OSCE commitments.

Consequently, the ODIHR's programmes for strengthening institutions, legal reform, and overall promotion of the rule of law have been strategically complemented by extending and developing activities aimed at strengthening democratic governance, in particular through increasing transparency and participation in policy-making.

Key Areas

Inclusion and participation: Active citizen participation requires an alert and well-informed citizenry as well as effective participatory mechanisms. The ODIHR's programme aims to increase citizen awareness about the mechanisms and benefits of participatory democracy. It also seeks to foster the simultaneous improvement and diversification of public consultation mechanisms.

Legislative processes: OSCE commitments require that domestic legislation be developed through an open and transparent process. In line with these commitments, the programme seeks to strengthen consultation mechanisms at various levels of the law-drafting process through activities to support increased transparency and accountability and to foster genuine, inclusive public participation through public hearings and similar instruments, as well as through strengthening institutional and civil society oversight capacities. The programme also seeks to provide support, primarily in the form of expertise, to domestic efforts aimed at strengthening transparency standards applicable to law-drafting structures and processes.

Political parties: Stable and effective political parties are necessary to the functioning of the legislative structures that, in turn, are the necessary precondition for the promotion of inclusive democracy. If political parties are to effectively foster democratic governance, they need to govern themselves democratically. The programme will support transparency and accountability to the electorate through equitable representation and the promotion of a rules-based intra-party democracy.