Publications

This report provides an analysis of data collected by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo trial monitoring programme from January to December 2022 and identifies trends in prosecution, defence and court practices in relation to the imposition of detention measures on defendants with mental health needs in Kosovo. It analyses judicial practice for compliance with fair trial and international human rights standards.

The OSCE report ‘Criminal Case Management and the Scheduling of Trials’ reviews criminal trials scheduled over a three-month reporting period in 2023. The report examines international case management best practices together with OSCE trial monitoring findings to assess challenges and barriers to efficient criminal trial scheduling in Kosovo.

Research results: The presence of principles and policies of gender equality in political life in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from support for female candidates, through appointments to the representation of women in legislative governmental bodies after the 2022 General Election and to visible and invisible obstacles during their term of office.

This publication has been developed to guide trainers leading 4-day in-person training courses for prison staff designed by the OSCE’s Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and Penal Reform International (PRI) in partnership with the Swedish Prison and Probation Service (SPPS) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

OSCE/ODIHR and Council of Europe joint training for law-enforcement officers on human rights and non-discriminatory policing.

The execution of sanctions is the final piece that closes the entire process of adjudication in criminal procedure. The lack of proper sanctions enforcement through a clear, understandable and fair procedure, the incomplete legal framework, as well as the inconsistent practice of the courts at the four appellate regions in North Macedonia, contributes to the negative public perception, especially in “high profile” cases. The Mission, in cooperation with the national Judges’ Association and the Skopje Basic Criminal Court, developed an Analysis of the practical problems of the procedure for execution of sanctions, addressing the legislative gaps and providing concrete legislative solutions. The Analysis includes diverse court practices from the appellate regions and recommends practical approaches to overcome certain challenges. Not available in English.

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.