ODIHR marks 20 years of legislative assistance, helping states across the OSCE region improve their laws to strengthen democracy

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) marked two decades of providing legislative assistance to nearly 40 states with an event to discuss the importance of human rights-compliant legislation and good lawmaking for strong democracies and ODIHR’s role in this process, which took place during the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference.

“ODIHR’s legislative assistance remains crucial, especially when democracy and human rights are under such pressure,” said Tea Jaliashvili, ODIHR Director’s Alternate and First Deputy Director. “Our work in this area offers concrete solutions in the face of today’s challenges to democracy.”

ODIHR’s work in the field of legislative assistance includes this year’s publication of Guidelines on Democratic Lawmaking for Better Laws, a publication designed to promote openness, transparency, inclusivity, and accountability at every stage of the legislative process. This new resource underscores ODIHR’s commitment to ensuring that lawmaking processes and adopted laws are in line with human rights, do not discriminate on any grounds, are sensitive to gender issues, and reflect the diverse needs of everyone in our societies.

At the event, Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar emphasised the importance of ODIHR’s role and international cooperation in addressing democratic backsliding and reflected on current progress and trends in the rule of law and democracy in Poland and the wider OSCE region.

Over the past 20 years, ODIHR has published more than 500 legal reviews covering topics ranging from election and political party legislation to judicial independence, criminal and security sector reform, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, gender equality, and violence against women. It has also conducted 14 assessments of legislative processes in nine different countries, offering insight and recommendations to increase transparency and accountability in lawmaking.