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985th Plenary Meeting of the Permanent Council

985th Plenary Meeting of the Permanent Council

Address by the Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of Austria, H.E. Sebastian Kurz. Address by the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, H.E. Peter Maurer. International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, on 27 January 2014. The death penalty in Belarus. The death penalty in the United States of America. Review of signals intelligence programmes in the United States of America. XXII Olympic Winter Games, to be held in Sochi, Russian Federation, from 7 to 23 February 2014. Response to a statement by the United States of America on human rights and fundamental freedoms in Azerbaijan made at the 981st meeting of the Permanent Council. Report on the activities of the Chairperson-in-Office. Deployment of an election support team to Afghanistan. Elections to the European Parliament to be held between 22 and 25 May 2014. Federal and regional elections in Belgium, to be held on 25 May 2014. Parliamentary elections in Serbia, to be held on 16 March 2014 (Serbia, Annex).

Best Practice Sharing Conference on Public Service Broadcasting Models, 22-23 May, 2014, Bishkek, Kyrgyszstan.

Prior to taking up the agenda, the Chairperson, on behalf of the Forum, offered condolences to Tajikistan in connection with the train accident that took place on 10 October 2013. Presentations on Central Asia:- “Regional security challenges in Central Asia” by H.E. Ambassador M. Jenča, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Central Asia and “The OSCE’s involvement in the political-military dimension in Tajikistan” by H.E. Ambassador I. Nasredinov, Permanent Representative of Tajikistan to the OSCE;- “Joint Efforts on Development of the National Capacity in Mine Action and Small Arms and Light Weapons / Conventional Ammunition Security in Tajikistan” and “Progress on Technical Co-operation on Explosive Hazards Reduction and Response in Central Asia” by Mr. L. Buhin, Mine Action Officer, OSCE Office in Tajikistan. Announcement of the completion of the destruction of all obsolete and expired ammunition in Cyprus (Cyprus, Annex).

The purpose of the mission was to assess the pre-election environment and preparations for the presidential election. Based on this assessment, the NAM should recommend whether to deploy an OSCE/ODIHR election-related activity for the forthcoming election, and if so, what type of activity best meets the identified needs. Meetings were held with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Constitutional Court, Constitutional Commission, Presidential Administration, and Supreme Board of Elections, as well as with representatives of political parties, media, and civil society. A list of meetings is included as an annex to this report.

734th Plenary Meeting of the Forum for Security Co-operation

This Preliminary Assessment is based on an analysis of the existing legal framework governing the law-making process in the Kyrgyz Republic. Its purpose is to analyse whether the current law-making process corresponds to key standards and OSCE commitments on democratic law-making, as part of the combined efforts of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek and the OSCE/ODIHR to provide assistance towards strengthening and improving this process.

Hate Monitor is a monthly visualization of the Mission’s hate crimes monitoring data. It presents the latest data on all known bias-motivated incidents and responses to these incidents by the justice sector, local authorities, and civil society throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Center for Economic Research organized two roundtable discussions, four training courses and four field studies for reforestation of protective zones in Kurdemir and Goychay from 16 June to 15 December 2012. The OSCE Office in Baku provided financial support for organizing these events As a result of these measures, the land users have received theoretical and practical knowledge about the protection of soil productivity and the prevention of soil salinity and degradation, and information based on international experience relating to the right use of agro technical practices, their opinions have been heard. The roundtable discussions, workshops, discussions, observations and field experiences with participation of land owners, municipality members and government representatives revealed a number of specific problems in soil conservation. The document is only available in Azerbaijani.