The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) was established in accordance with decisions of the 1990 Paris Summit of the CSCE and is based in Warsaw.
The Office is the body responsible for promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the OSCE area.
ODIHR's competencies include the following functions:
♦ supporting democratic election processes through election observation;
♦ assisting in the implementation of human dimension commitments by providing expertise and practical support;
♦ assisting OSCE field missions in the implementation of their human dimension activities;
♦ Conflict early warning and conflict prevention;
♦ supporting participating States in the implementation of international legal obligations and OSCE commitments;
♦ supporting the implementation of commitments on tolerance and non-discrimination;
♦ OSCE Contact Point on Roma and Sinti Peoples' Issues;
♦ regular meetings to review the implementation of human dimension commitments and recommendations for further action.
The ODIHR's three areas of focus are:
♦ electoral assistance in line with OSCE commitments
♦ the development of civil society and democratic institutions
♦ practical involvement in monitoring the implementation of OSCE human dimension commitments.
From 1991 to 1994, the Director of the ODIHR was Lucino Cortese of Italy. From 1994 to 1997, Audrey Glover (United Kingdom). From 1997 to 2002 - Gerard Studman (Switzerland). From 2003 to 2008 - Christian Strohal (Austria). From 2008 to 2014 - Janez Lenarčič (Slovenia). From 2014 to 2017 - Michael Link (Germany). From 2017 to 2020 - Ingeborg Gisladottir (Iceland). From 4 December 2020 the Director is Matteo Mecacci the representative of Italy.
Recent major meetings and events with ODIHR
♦ On 10 January 2021, an ODIHR mission observed the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan.
♦ On 19-22 October 2021, M. Mecacci visited the capital of Kazakhstan as part of his visit as Director of the Office. This visit provided an opportunity to present the full range of sweeping changes and new realities in the country, especially in light of the economic, social and political reforms that have been launched. The programme of the visit included meetings with Kazakhstani officials and civil society representatives.
♦ April 11-14, 2022: a team of experts of the Office travelled to present and discuss the final report on the parliamentary elections in 2021. During the visit, the Office met with a number of Kazakh government officials.
♦ A limited ODIHR mission monitored the national referendum on amendments to the RoK Constitution held on June 5, 2022.
♦ On 23-24 June 2022 the Director M.Mecacci visited Kazakhstan to discuss with Kazakh officials the Office's involvement in further political reforms in the country. The Director gave an interview to the national TV channel Khabar 24 and a press briefing to leading Kazakhstani media. During the visit, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ombudsman of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the ODIHR.
♦ On 5-06 September 2022, the ODIHR organised a meeting of heads of national human rights institutions in Warsaw on the theme "Building sustainable national human rights institutions". The Ombudsman for Human Rights of the Republic of Kazakhstan, E.Azimova, participated on the Kazakh side.
♦ On 20 November 2022 a full-fledged ODIHR mission observed the early Presidential elections.
♦ On December 01, 2022 during participation in OSCE Ministerial Council in Lodz (Poland) Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs M.Tleuberdi met with the Office Director M.Mecacci. During the meeting the results of the early presidential election in the Republic of Kazakhstan and the relevant interim report of the ODIHR Observation Mission were discussed.
♦ Since the beginning of November 2022 a team of 5 experts of the Office is in the Republic of Kazakhstan to monitor by the ODIHR experts the trials on the "January events".