MINELRES: OSCE ODIHR Legislationline newsletter n. 2: excerpts

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Original sender: www.legislationline.org
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Here attached is the second issue of the Legislationline Newsletter.
Should you have any comment, question or suggestion, please feel free
to contact us.
 
Denis PETIT
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Legal expert
Co-ordinator of Legislationline
Tel: +48-22-5200 600 ext. 5110

Dominika Skubida
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Assistant to the Co-ordinator of Legislationline
Tel: Tel: +48-22-5200 600 ext. 5100

Caroline Carlsson
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Assistant to the Co-ordinator of Legislationline
Tel: Tel: +48-22-5200 600 ext. 4126
--------------------------

11 July 2002
LEGISLATIONLINE
NEWSLETTER
n. 2

THIS IS THE SECOND ISSUE OF LEGISLATIONLINE's ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER
with news about the latest legal developments in the OSCE region and
an account of the latest additions and new features on
Legislationline. The first issue was circulated on 3 June 2002. The
newsletter is published on a monthly basis.

The information contained in the newsletter is experimental and could
include some inaccuracies. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions
and Human Rights does not accept any responsibility to anyone for the
consequences of using it.

All comments, corrections, contributions or requests for more
information (on the issues covered on the site) are welcome.

To unsubscribe, reply to this e-mail inserting "unsubscribe" in the
subject field.

Introduction

LEGISLATIONLINE is an internet-based legislative database run by the
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and providing
access to domestic and international legislation in the OSCE region
(55 countries of Caucasus, Central Asia, Europe and North America) on
issues relating to the protection of human rights and the furtherance
of the rule of law.

We have so far approximately 1850 texts online for 7 subject matters.
We have citizenship legislation for 52 countries, anti-trafficking
legislation and documents for 32 countries and election-related
legislation for 39 countries.

Texts are uploaded in English (for the most part), Russian, French,
German, Italian and Spanish. Brief explanatory notes along with
thousands of external links provide background information on the
subjects (and more specific issues as listed on topic homepages)
covered on the site.

Legislationline is now being further developed with the financial
support of the European Commission over the next two years. A total of
13 topics are expected to be addressed by the end of 2003.

The legal news featured hereafter are organized thematically and then
further broken down by groups of countries. 

........................

FYROM: The Macedonian Parliament adopted on 19 June nine laws aimed at
making Albanian an official language (according to the Ohrid
agreement). However there is still a dispute about the use of Albanian
language on passports, which may jeopardize parliamentary elections.
The Ohrid agreement brokered six months ago stipulates that Albanian
should be included on the cover of all travel documents. However the
new passport law is still blocked. (RFE/RL, www.refrl.org)

........................

EUROPEAN UNION: A communication on the Action Plans for administrative
and judicial capacity, and the monitoring of commitments made by the
negotiating countries in the accession negotiations (Brussels, 5 June
2002, COM(2002) 256 final) has been prepared by the European
Commission for the European Council of Sevilla. This document provides
a detailed overview on a wide range of issues, among which the reform
of judicial systems. According to the report, while progress was made
on the judicial reform in most applicant countries "the strengthening
of the independence of the judiciary, the improvement of remunerations
and working conditions as well as the training of judges still need to
be further pursued". Furthermore, ensuring respect for human rights
and respect for and the protection of minorities is "a further area
where administrative and judicial capacity need reinforcement in
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Romania and
Slovakia". Other issues addressed are pre-trial detention and the
creation of an effective system to redress cases of police misconduct.
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/sevilla/com2002-256_en.pdf

........................

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA: On 24 June the House of Representatives adopted
the law on the protection of rights of national minorities. The law
sets out the rights and obligations of representatives of national
minorities and obligations for state authorities to respect and
protect, preserve and develop ethnic, cultural, linguistic and
religious identity of members of national minorities in
Bosnia-Herzegovina who are Bosnia-Herzegovina nationals. (BBC
Monitoring Service)

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