Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Activities

Enhancing co-operation with the OSCE’s Mediterranean Partners in the Human Dimension

Participants at a working session on justice and legal reform during the OSCE-Mediterranean Partner Countries’ Conference for Civil Society, Vilnius, Lithuania, 4 December 2011. (OSCE/Velimir Alic)
Participants at a working session on justice and legal reform during the OSCE-Mediterranean Partner Countries’ Conference for Civil Society, Vilnius, Lithuania, 4 December 2011. (OSCE/Velimir Alic)

At the 2011 Ministerial Council in Vilnius, OSCE participating States decided to further enhance the OSCE’s co-operation with its Mediterranean Partners − Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia − through broadening dialogue, intensifying political consultations, strengthening practical co-operation and further sharing good practices and experience.

Within this framework, since 2011, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has increased its engagement with OSCE Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation in accordance with its mandate through the extra-budgetary “Programme on Increasing Understanding of the OSCE Human Dimension”. The programme includes a number of projects and activities designed to facilitate the transfer of ODIHR expertise in the fields of elections, democratization and human rights, as well as to support dialogue, exchange of good practice and knowledge transfer between OSCE participating States and the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation.

OSCE/ODIHR offers its expertise in the following areas:

Facilitating dialogue and the exchange of good practices

Within its mandate, ODIHR provides a platform for exchange of experiences to government officials and civil society in the OSCE Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation, and assists them in their efforts to meet international and OSCE standards in the human dimension.

Elections

ODIHR supports electoral reform processes in Mediterranean Partner States by helping to ensure that legislation and practices meet international obligations and commitments, as well as through the training of citizen election observers.

Promoting women’s political participation and gender equality

ODIHR works to facilitate the exchange of experience and expertise between OSCE participating States and Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation in the areas of ensuring equal opportunity for participation of women in political and public life, building national mechanisms for the advancement of women and providing legislative assistance to support efforts in enhancing gender equality and combating domestic violence.

Projects

Upon request, ODIHR supports OSCE Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation through the implementation of extra-budgetary projects tailored specifically to the needs and context of the requesting State, within the human dimension, including in the areas of democratic governance, legislative assistance, elections, women’s political participation, human rights and tolerance and non-discrimination.

Tools and publications

ODIHR works to promote and make accessible a number of its human dimension tools and publications in Arabic to the OSCE Mediterranean Partners as a basis for the exchange of good practices and transfer of knowledge from the OSCE region.