Publications

During the implementation of the current LCP, during trial monitoring activities and over discussion with national legal practitioners, it became obvious that one of the weaknesses among legal practitioners is the adequate use of expert opinions, expert witnesses and technical advisors as a tool for representing facts as evidence in Court, and their effective, efficient and financially justified conduct in accordance with the rules and principles of the national criminal procedure. The Law on Expertise, as lex specialis needs to be understood in the context of the LCP and the purpose of the expert witnesses during a criminal case trial. Therefore, the OSCE Mission to Skopje supported the drafting of this Guidebook for legal practitioners including positive and negative examples from the national court practice, ECtHR jurisprudence and additional elaborations of the novelties in the Law on Expertise.

The leaflet on ‘First Contact Service Providers for Victims of Domestic Violence in Kosovo’ has been drafted in response to the findings of the OSCE’s ‘Survey on Well-being and Safety of Women in Kosovo’, according to which 22% of women considered they were not well informed what to do if they experienced violence, 29% said they were somehow informed and 12% did not know at all what to do. The leaflet informs the public about what to expect from each first contact service provider and provides a short directory to contact each of them.

This document explains the mandate of the Deputy Mayor for Communities (DMC’s) and outlines statistics relating to DMC’s in 2022.

The infosheet includes information about the establishment and functioning of the Deputy Chairpersons of the Municipal Assembly for Communities (DCMACs) in 2022.

This document outlines what Communities Committees (CC’s) are and provides information regarding CC’s in 2022.

The infosheet includes information about the membership and functioning of the Municipal Offices for Communities and Return (MOCRs) in 2022.

A factsheet on ODIHR's activities in Ukraine

The Guidelines for the Effective Performance of Municipal Coordination Mechanisms against Domestic Violence (MCMDV) are a practical tool to facilitate more effective and co-ordinated responses of these mechanisms to domestic violence cases at the local level. They cover the legal basis and purpose of the MCMDVs, the importance of a multi-institutional and coordinated approach, data collection and reporting, and training and capacity building for MCMDV members.

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mission) monitors and reports on domestic war crimes proceedings to provide an objective and accurate assessment of the capacity and willingness of the judicial system to investigate, prosecute and adjudicate war crimes in an effective, human rights compliant and expedient manner. In addition, the Mission has begun increasing its focus on transitional justice as an essential complement to judicial proceedings. Related Mission programming includes capacity-building, promoting transparency, targeted advocacy and technical support.

The 1990s conflict in BiH resulted in vast displacement and consequently ethnic homogenization in many areas. In an attempt to reverse this process and encourage the return of refugees and displaced persons, the practice of ‘two schools under one roof’ was established as a temporary measure in three ethnically-divided cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Zenica Doboj Canton, Central Bosnia Canton, and Herzegovina Neretva Canton). This interim measure provided children of different ethnicities, who had previously studied in separate, often inadequate private premises (houses, bars, or restaurants), an opportunity to at least receive education in a single school building. Unfortunately, the temporary has become permanent without any systemic solution in sight to transition to integrated schools.