Publications

This manual is designed to assist judges-trainers in teaching the standardized course “Application of the European Convention on Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in administrative justice” in training format at the National School of Judges of Ukraine. The course is based on interactive training methods and international best practices in judicial education. The manual includes materials prepared by the working group on course development within the Project "Safeguarding Human Rights through Courts" implemented by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine with the financial support of the Government of Canada. This is one of the courses developed and institutionalized in cooperation with the National School of Judges of Ukraine, the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the High Administrative Court of Ukraine within the Project "Safeguarding Human Rights through Courts". The manual is available in Ukrainian only.

In order to further promote the use of mediation as an alternative way for resolution of disputes, the Mission in cooperation with the Mediation Centre developed a promotional brochure on mediation in family disputes. Not available in English.

The Manual is intended for criminal law judges in Serbia to guide them in writing criminal law judgments. It is the result of a series of working group meetings organized by the OSCE Mission to Serbia and the US Department of Justice with support of the Supreme Court of Cassation of Serbia, in the period of two years. The authors of the Manual are prominent criminal law judges of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Appellate Court in Belgrade. The Manual is available only in Serbian language.

The ODIHR promotes democratic election processes, assists OSCE participating States in the implementation of their human dimension commitments and assists OSCE field missions in their human dimension activities.

This comparative study complements the efforts of the OSCE Mission to Skopje to support the transition in practicing the new adversarial model of criminal procedure in the country, largely based upon similar legislative transitions in countries across Europe. It is comprised of inputs from seven different researches on the implementation of the in dubio pro reo principle and the standard beyond reasonable doubt in various judicial systems both historically and in present day.

The publication gives an overview of both domestic and European legislation on the admissibility and use of actio popularis mechanism, the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union as well as the practice of the region. This publication also provides insight on the specific methodology for use of actio popularis, in order to provide proper guidance for citizen associations in terms of the cases and ways they should use this mechanism.

This publication includes case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in relation to hate crimes and hate speech cases. This collection analyzes cases when it comes to speech that incited hatred with particular reference to the case-law of some of the extreme forms of speech that were problematized before the ECtHR. The purpose of this collection is through brief comments on the most interesting judgments and decisions on hate speech and hate crimes, to clarify the standards that the Court has set before the States Parties to the Convention. Not available in English.

The advancement of technology requires law enforcement agencies and public prosecutors offices in particular to be well-prepared to meet the challenges it presents. The process of obtaining cyber data to be used as evidence in a criminal procedure is not as straightforward as one might think. However, there are worldwide initiatives to establish common standards and facilitate the exchange of information through improved protocols among the law enforcement sector worldwide. This short guide, which is the result of a joint initiative between the Mission and the Public Prosecutors’ Association, aims to contribute to that direction. The publication is not available in English.

The Methodology for monitoring of Ukrainian courts’ judgements on their application of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) was developed by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU) within its “Safeguarding Human Rights through Courts” project. The project’s two-fold objective was to strengthen civil society’s capacity to monitor the application of human rights protection legal instruments in court judgements and to establish a baseline and evaluate the progress in application of the ECHR and the case-law of the ECtHR by PCU-trained judges. PCU’s Implementing Partner – “Institute of Applied Humanitarian Research” – used the developed methodology to pilot the monitoring of judgements during 2015-2016. The analysis of monitoring findings will be made available in a separate report in November 2017.

The publication “Evidence & Objections” provides domestic and international best practices to familiarize experienced lawyers trained in the civil law system with the fundamental principles of the law on evidence and evidentiary objections. Available in English and Macedonian, it is supported by an on-line video course which can be accessed on an e-learning platform of the regional bar associations at www.brrln.org. This publication is printed and distributed by the OSCE Mission to Skopje in its continuous efforts to promote the rule of law in the country and to facilitate the concept of continuous learning for the parties involved in the criminal procedure.