Publications

On average, Roma and Sinti life expectancy is between five to twenty years shorter than that of the mainstream population. This is mainly due to preventable risks such as malnutrition, inadequate housing conditions and the inability to afford healthcare services, as well as the impact of racist and discriminatory practices from healthcare institutions and professionals.

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

Intolerance and discrimination, including harmful discourse and stereotyping, have affected Indigenous communities for centuries, including those living in the OSCE region.

Model OSCE for Youth 2023 Brochure contains background information about the 10th edition of the Model OSCE for Youth the OSCE Mission to Moldova organizes.

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.

In co-operation with the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, the OSCE Mission in Serbia supported a second research exploring citizens' perceptions of personal data protection. The research was conducted in April and May 2023 and included 1211 respondents from Serbia.

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 report describes the current state of ecosystems and biodiversity in the lower Chu river (Kazakhstan), providing data on climate, flora and vegetation, hydrology, ichthyofauna, and fauna of terrestrial vertebrates, including birds. The report also analyses changes in ecosystems over the past 30 years, reveals their serious degradation, assesses needs and prospects for restoration of valuable biocenoses and improvement of living conditions of the local population.

The publication aims at clarifying the procedural legal concept of shifting the burden of proof, its meaning and scope, as well as all open issues during practical implementation of the proceedings before the Commission for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination and the national court, to ensure effective application of the Law on Prevention and Protection against Discrimination. It also focuses on helping legal practitioners in acquiring knowledge and skills in the area of equality law and the principle on non-discrimination, thus examples from the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights, as well as comparative practices from European countries, are widely used.