Publications

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 paper, produced in consultation with the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons Expert Co-ordination Team, examines the principle of non-punishment in international law, explores the scope of its application and discusses the challenges in its practical implementation. It includes a number of practical examples and court cases which were made available by national agencies, NGOs and legal professionals who have been examining these issues extensively, in particular the Belgian Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism, the Bureau of the Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings, as well as UK courts and lawyers. The paper concludes with the provision of practical guidance, and the formulation of policy and legislative recommendations, towards the effective implementation of the non-punishment provision with regard to victims of trafficking.

This thematic report presents the results of a several-month long research undertaken by the Court Monitoring Team, in order to appraise the respect of procedural preconditions of courts in enforcement procedures, duration of procedures, respect of the right to equality, trial within the reasonable time, and to, by analyzing the cases, provide adequate conclusions and recommendations aimed at further improvement of the situation in this area.

Ovaj tematski izvještaj rezultat je višemjesečnog istraživanja sprovedenog od strane tima posmatrača, sa ciljem da se procijeni poštovanje procesnih pretpostavki sudova u izvršnim predmetima, trajanje postupaka, poštovanje prava na ravnopravnost, suđenje u razumnom roku, te da se kroz analizu predmeta pruže odgovarajući zaključci i preporuke sa ciljem daljeg unaprijeđenja stanja u ovoj oblasti.

The main objective of the War Crimes Processing Project is to support the urgent needs of the justice sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to expedite the fair and effective processing of war crimes cases.

This report reviews the progress made by the Assembly of Kosovo in developing its relations with civil society. It analyses participation of civil society in the work of the Assembly in a comprehensive manner. It gathers best practices from parliaments in the Western Balkans region and the rest of Europe on three aspects of public participation: the provision by the legislature of actionable information to the public, the existence of institutional mechanisms for facilitating civil society participation, and the application of sound practices of public consultation. The report proceeds to assess the Assembly’s performance against these practices, acknowledging important achievements and identifying key challenges.

This volume presents chronologically the OSCE's human dimension commitments over its 30-year history. It is intended for use by government officials and civil society organizations, academics, students, and practitioners alike.

This publication is an analysis of bias-motivated incidents in Bosnia and Herzegovina with recommendations. Hate crimes target the basic fabric of society. Given their destructive potential, the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina has partnered with Bosnia and Herzegovina officials since 2008 to address these crimes. This report presents the Mission's findings based on its past five years of monitoring hate crimes and hate-related incidents, while concurrently assessing the gaps between international standards and domestic practice in relation to responding to these incidents.

The publication includes compilation of rulings and judgments in regards to hate speech cases issued by the European Court for Human Rights. This publication is not available in English.

The report highlights concerns on fair trial rights observed during the processing of election-related cases through the justice system in Kosovo. It provides recommendations for the relevant institutions.