Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) The OSCE is an international non-chartered organization established in 1994 as a new form of cooperation in Europe. The OSCR replaced the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) – a specialized forum originating from the Helsinki Final Act of August 1, 1975 to tackle security issues. After the collapse of the socialist block the CSCE (now OSCE) was entrusted with new tasks and objectives: regional security, promotion of economic, social, political, defense cohesion, and the promotion of human rights and democracy in the OSCE region. Acts of the OSCE and its institutions are of political nature and in no way binding for the member-states. There are now 56 states participating in the OSCE. Recent Developments: Freedom of Assembly Legislative Standards: The OSCE finalized the Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly On March 30, 2007 the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) launched the Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly[1] together with Interpretative notes. This document was developed in consultation with the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) of the Council of Europe. It was initially drafted by the ODIHR and discussed during regional consultative round-tables held in Tbilisi, Belgrade, Almaty, and Warsaw (all in 2006). The initiative to draft the Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly seems to follow the reforms of assembly regulation being implemented in a number of East European, Caucasian and Central Asian states.[2] The primary purpose of the Guidelines is to assist legislators predominantly from Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS states in developing a legislative framework for exercising the freedom of assembly. The Guidelines consist of five parts: Regulation of Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, Six Guiding Principles, Restrictions on Freedom of Assembly, Procedural Issues, and Implementing Legislation on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly. The first part contains the definition of assembly:
In describing restrictions on freedom of assembly the Guidelines call for adherence to the grounds of such restrictions enumerated in international human rights instruments, thus endorsing the idea of numerus clausus for such grounds. The Guidelines contain an important proviso concerning spontaneous assemblies, whose treatment should be in line with the general presumption in favor of holding assemblies. Importantly, those demonstrations should be subject to notification to the authorities, rather than dependant on prior permission. Though this principle is deeply imbedded in the constitutional law of Europe, the transitional democracies of the Eastern Europe and Caucasian and Central Asian republics face some difficulties with its implementation. The part of the Guidelines devoted to implementing legislation on freedom of peaceful assembly deals primarily with technical issues such as policing, liability of organizers, media access, planning etc. Despite the limited scope of Guidelines (confined to public assemblies that take place in public spaces that are not buildings or structures), they provide a reliable orientation for legislators drafting freedom of assembly legislation. Even before their completing, the Guidelines had been already been employed by some legislators.[3] Nevertheless the question remains whether it is appropriate and necessary for a democratic state to have detailed legislative regulation of the freedom of peaceful assembly – a freedom of constitutional dimension. Perhaps that is why the Venice Commission, when providing support to the ODIHR, emphasized that “it is not indispensable for a State to enact a specific law on assemblies.”[4] Indeed, as was emphasized by members of the Ukrainian delegation during the Tbilisi round-table, the legislative regulation would in fact limit freedom of assembly when compared to that country’s existing constitutional provisions. Energy Security: 2007 Kiev Declaration of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly On 5-9 July 2007, Kiev hosted the annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA). This year the session was devoted to the security of energy supplies. The issue had become of interest as a result of controversies over energy transit between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Despite the fierce opposition of the Russian parliamentary delegation, the OSCE PA adopted the Kiev Declaration and recommendations.[5] These documents appealed to the participating states to ratify the Energy Charter Treaty as well as to commit themselves to successful completion of the Energy Charter Treaty Transit Protocol. Moreover, the OSCE PA condemned attempts by OSCE participating States to use energy issues as a tool of political pressure and urged all OSCE participating States to observe market economy principles (fair competition, transparency and non-discriminatory transit) in the energy sector. Needless to say, these portions of the Declaration and recommendations generated the most heated discussions during the session. Oleksandr Vodyannikov, Scholarly and Legal Advisor for the Office of the OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine. Footnotes: 1 Available at http://www.osce.org/publications/odihr/2007/03/23835_823_en.pdf. 2 In recent years, reforms of regulations concerning freedom of assembly have been implemented in Armenia (2005), Belarus (2006), Georgia (2004), Kyrgyzstan (2002), Moldova (2002) etc. See http://legislationline.org. Ukraine remains the only country of the OSCE region lacking a specific law on peaceful assembly. In the last two years at least two draft laws to regulate freedom of peaceful assembly have been tabled within Ukranian parliament (reg. No 2646-1, 7819), though both without any significant success. See www.rada.gov.ua. As a result, the issue is still regulated by a directly enforceable provision of the 1996 Constitution. 3 E.g., Ukrainian draft law No. 2646-1 dated January 1, 2007. 4 Opinion on OSCE/ODIHR Guidelines for Drafting Laws Pertaining to Freedom of Assembly. Adopted by the Venice Commission at its 64th Plenary Session (Venice, October 21-22, 2005), para. 11, available at http://www.venice.coe.int/docs/2005/CDL-AD(2005)040-e.pdf. 5 Available at http://www.oscepa.org/admin/getbinary.asp?fileid=1733. |
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© 2008 American Society of International Law, 2223 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington DC 20008
www.asil.org