Defending and promoting rule of law principles: Challenges and ways forward
When
Where
Organized by
Live streaming
The livestream will be available here.
Background
In a rule of law compliant system, all persons, institutions and entities, including states themselves, are accountable to laws that are equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and are consistent with international human rights norms and standards.
In the Copenhagen Document of 1990, OSCE participating States defined rule of law as not merely a formal legality but “justice based on the recognition and full acceptance of the supreme value of the human personality and guaranteed by institutions providing a framework for its fullest expression”. They also characterized democracy as “an inherent element of the rule of law”.
The institutional frameworks that OSCE participating States have subsequently used to uphold their rule of law-related commitments vary across the region.
During this webinar, ODIHR will support a discussion of the varying ways in which participating States work to protect and promote some of the cornerstones of rule of law, including judicial independence and the right to a fair trial.
Webinar
ODIHR will organize two consecutive panels to discuss the following subjects:
- challenges to and good practices for ensuring judicial independence, integrity and accountability
- prevalent violations of the right to a fair trial and tools for safeguarding fair trial rights
In connection with these two panels, ODIHR will organize two subsequent simultaneous breakout sessions:
- Breakout Session A: monitoring of procedures related to judicial administration
- Breakout Session B: launch of ODIHR and Fair Trials' new publication on eliminating incentives for torture in criminal justice systems
The launch of the publication will take place in a break-out session of this webinar, starting at 16.30. The Zoom link to the break-out session will be provided at the end of the plenary session, shortly before 16.30.