Publications

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina encourages municipalities to form partnerships and regional networks to address issues of common concern, consolidate and improve good governance standards that have been achieved, and develop new approaches to current and future challenges in local governance. Inter-municipal learning and support was conceptually formalized as a means to encourage municipalities to identify and meet their own development needs. It is one of the seven main components of the Mission’s Local First initiative which was launched in 2009.

Through targeted projects implemented at the local level, the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina strives to raise the level of young peoples’ civic engagement and encourages them to take a more active role in community decision-making processes.

The realization of the right to social assistance, adequate housing and an efficient system of social protection are of paramount importance in all societies. In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), where a large portion of the population lives in poverty and social exclusion, these issues are even more critical.

ODIHR's annual report provides an overview of the Office's primary activities in the areas of elections, human rights, democratization, tolerance and non-discrimination, and Roma and Sinti issues.

 

In line with the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, the SR is mandated to address trafficking in human beings for the purpose of organ removal. The SR initiated the research project in 2011, supported by the Strategic Police Matters Unit (SPMU), to conduct a comprehensive overview of the current situation and a deeper qualitative analysis of this form of human trafficking within the OSCE region. The project aimed to identify vulnerable groups and the modus operandi of criminal organizations, to identify gaps in national legislation, as well as to disclose obstacles preventing efficient investigation and prosecution of this crime. This 6th Occasional Paper in the Occasional Paper Series of the OSCE OSR/CTHB has restricted its focus to the trafficking of human beings for the purpose of organ removal in the OSCE region. It has, therefore, largely excluded analysis of cases involving the illegal sale and purchase of organs, tissues and cells (OTC) that do not involve the trafficking of a human being. The research for this study, based primarily on desk research and analysis, identified cases of human trafficking for organ removal in the OSCE region, some of which have not previously been identified, collated and analysed.

The publication prepared by the Europe in Law Association NGO with the support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan analyses the compliance of the judicial acts of Armenian courts with the freedom of expression standards set by international law, including the European Convention of Human Rights and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

The 12th issue of the e-newsletter issued by the Gender Section of the OSCE on a quarterly basis.

The book edited by the Rule of Law and Human Rights Department’s staff and published in June 2013 as the second in the Department’s book series presenting experiences with reforms of criminal procedure legislation in Serbia and in the neighbouring countries.

This Fifth Occasional Paper in the Occasional Paper Series of the OSR/CTHB addresses and denounces the use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment by traffickers as a means to subjugate, control and punish trafficked people. It analyses under which circumstances trafficking can amount to torture or other forms of ill-treatment and it identifies the connection between both human rights violations from a clinical perspective. Importantly, the Paper provides the conceptual framework to understand what trafficking cases entail in terms of the physical and psychological effects on trafficked persons, and the legal and clinical implications that flow from this characterization, including in terms of legal entitlements. The Paper builds on the important work of the former UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Professor Dr. Manfred Nowak and the strong and long-standing clinical and policy experience of the British NGO, the Helen Bamber Foundation. Part 1 of the Paper authored by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights outlines and compares the existing legal frameworks on human rights, human trafficking as well as on torture and other forms of ill-treatment. Part 2 of the Paper examines the clinical links between human trafficking and torture, both in terms of the nature (physical and psychological) of the injuries from torture and ill-treatment, the impact of trafficking on victims and what this implies for effective assistance and sustained recovery This Occasional Paper is meant to provide a policy tool for decision makers and practitioners especially from the legal and medical sector dealing with human trafficking. Based on desk research, field work and case study analysis, it is also an excellent tool to inform the daily work of law enforcement, the judiciary, civil society, academia, the medical profession and the international community in their fight against human trafficking which should be firmly based on the rule of law and human rights.