CORE and the German Federal Foreign Office jointly conducted a workshop on OSCE rule-of-law assistance in Vienna, 25 – 26 March 2010. The workshop focused on two specific topics: the independence of the judiciary and administrative justice reforms in three regions - Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

As one of the participating States that took the initiative in proposing the OSCE Helsinki Ministerial Council Decision on “Further Strengthening the Rule of Law in the OSCE Area” (2008) and campaigned for its adoption, Germany considered this to be an appropriate time to further discuss suitable ways of its implementation. This was the driving motive for convening the workshop.

CORE and German Federal Foreign Office workshop on OSCE rule-of-law assistance

The workshop was attended by more than 30 participants including high-ranking governmental officials from Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, OSCE rule-of-law officers from the OSCE field operations, representatives of the Kazakh OSCE Chairman-in-Office and the current OSCE Troika, the directorship and leading rule-of-law experts of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), representatives of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe as well as members of think tanks in Germany and elsewhere.

During the two days of the workshop, discussions were held in a lively atmosphere on governmental and non-governmental expectations vis-à-vis OSCE rule-of-law assistance, best practices and the specific requirements of OSCE field work, as well as on the assistance of development agencies and donor organizations. The workshop was a reflective contribution to the ongoing OSCE dialogue on common European values.

See also: German Federal Foreign Office, Auswärtiges Amt fördert Rechtsstaatlichkeit.

Related publication: Frank Evers: OSCE Efforts to Promote the Rule of Law: History, Structures, Survey, Hamburg 2010 (CORE Working Paper 20). (document)

Contact: Dr Frank Evers