OSCE/Steven Weinburg Field operations operations Field Field operations Caucasus Caucasus Sukhumi OSCE Seconded staff to the UN HROAG OSCE Tskhinvali Mission to Georgia Tbilisi Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE CiO on the Conflict Dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Baku Conference OSCE Office in Baku OSCE Office in Yerevan Yerevan Khankendi / Stepanakert International Borders OSCE Field Office The boundaries and names on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the OSCE. < 80 | 81 > Office in Baku The Office in Baku focused ficking; providing assistance toral reform and promoting steps to recycle and dispose in 2005 on strengthening the to police; combating cor- freedom of assembly in of stocks of toxic rocket fuel development of civil society, ruption; and raising public Azerbaijan remained at the component. the rule of law and human awareness of environmental top of the Office’s agenda. rights; fighting human traf- issues. Support for elec- The Office also took the first Politico-military The school’s teachers attended the first the Interior Ministry’s internal troops and dimension activities formal teacher-training course, run by the police, including a five-day practical train- national police academies of the Czech Re- ing in public event control. This culmi- Police assistance programme. The Office public, aligning Azerbaijan’s police training nated in a demonstration of containment made considerable progress in 2005 on with international standards. Lesson plans skills that are in line with international improvements to the police school building for the new induction training course were standards. and the training programme. The school prepared from the programme of contents now has furniture in all classrooms and which had previously been agreed between Destruction of toxic missile fuel compo- some teaching can now be undertaken in the Government and the Office. nent. The Office supported a project that an atmosphere more conducive to learning. provided technical and financial assistance Dormitory accommodation and specialist Training on freedom of assembly. The to Azerbaijan for the destruction or con- equipment, however, are still lacking. Office initiated two training projects for version of obsolete, toxic chemical missile fuel components in two storage sites. (For more on this topic, please see page 11.) Human rights training and the fight OSCE/Ulvi Akhundlu OSCE/Ulvi against terrorism. As part of the Of- fice’s assistance to Azerbaijan in the fight against terrorism, it provided human rights training to the army’s Oil Pipeline Protection Department, detailing their rights and responsibilities under interna- tional law. Top: Ministry of Defence experts provide detailed information to the combined OSCE/NATO-NAMSA team at the Mingechevir Melange storage facility. Left: An Academy of Science expert, assisted by Ministry of Defence staff and observed by the OSCE, takes samples from a melange storage site to determine the level of contamination in Mingechevir. Field operations Caucasus Economic and environmental The Office and its implementing partners released seven prominent opposition lead- dimension activities supported the Energy Bus initiative that ers as a result of presidential pardons and provides public awareness of energy con- expunged the criminal records of those Development of small- and medium- servation and practical alternative energy convicted of criminal offences linked to sized enterprises. The key challenges solutions to rural communities. Despite sig- public disturbances in the aftermath of hindering the development of small- and nificant oil and gas reserves currently under the 2003 presidential election. With their medium-sized enterprises in the regions development, Azerbaijan still experiences records cleared, the seven leaders, whose of Azerbaijan are the lack of access to chronic energy deficits in rural regions, trials had been monitored by the OSCE, business training and micro-finance loans. hampering sustained economic development became eligible to run in the parliamen- Women, in particular, face significant and contributing to deforestation in these tary elections. obstacles in obtaining business training, areas. The Energy Bus – a mobile truck and capital and micro-credits, hindering their trailer containing exhibition models and Public education programme for ap- ability to launch and increase business ac- information on energy conservation and peals to the Constitutional Court. The tivity. For this reason, the Office focused low-cost alternative and renewable energy Office, the Constitutional Court and a on entrepreneurial training for women in solutions for rural communities – was in- domestic NGO launched a programme to the rural regions. Beginning in January, strumental in supporting the Government’s empower members of the public to file in- the Office trained more than 200 women goals of promoting the use of renewable dividual complaints. Lessons and lectures in five districts of Azerbaijan, culminating energy to address energy security needs. The were conducted in all areas of the coun- in a business plan competition with start- Bus carried its message to some 150 villages try. The Office also commissioned local up support for winners. in 2005. lawyers to produce a booklet outlining re- quirements for constitutional complaints. Good governance and anti-corruption. Corruption is considered a key obstacle to Monitoring the newly established Bar the liberalization of market economies and Association. The Office monitored the regional economic development, particu- Akhundlu OSCE/Ulvi activity of the new Bar Association and larly when there exist large-scale revenues lobbied for the admission of lawyers from the oil and gas sector. Together with denied membership. It disseminated the Young Lawyers Union, the Office a report on the Situation of Lawyers in launched public roundtables to promote Azerbaijan, which highlights the critical the new anti-corruption laws. The Office situation of the legal profession, stresses also published and distributed the OSCE the importance of the matter and requests Handbook for Best Practices in Combating the Government address the issues. Corruption in the Azerbaijani language. NGO advocacy training programme. To Raising public environmental aware- help NGOs build advocacy and negotiation ness. With an average of 75 visitors a week skills, the Office developed a new train- to its library, the Aarhus Centre was a hub ing programme and supported NGO-run of activity for environmental NGOs. In The energy bus visited over 250 villages training courses. These are designed to addition, it served as a venue for more than in Azerbaijan, helping communities to build a sustainable dialogue among repre- 50 public meetings. gain access to low-cost diversified energy sentatives of political parties, municipali- resources. ties and community-based organizations The Office launched a one-year pro- and to improve their skills in consensus- gramme to develop an environmental building and conflict management. education programme for schoolchildren. The programme will train teachers and Human dimension activities Survey on juvenile justice. The Office community leaders on integrating so- commissioned the NGO, Alliance for called “Green Packs” with environmental Trial monitoring. Together with the Children’s Rights, to prepare a report on educational material into the school ODIHR, the Office presented Azerbaijan’s juvenile justice in Azerbaijan. The recom- curriculum. Government in February with a joint re- mendations of this report, the first of its port on the Trial Monitoring Project in Az- kind, provide a basis for the authorities to The Office also continued to support the erbaijan 2003-2004. Following talks with address the shortcomings of the justice OSCE-NATO South Caucasus River Moni- the ODIHR in Warsaw, the Government system in its treatment of juveniles. The toring Project, which is now in its fourth committed to a dialogue on implement- Government said that it would consider year of monitoring and data collection. It ing the report’s recommendations. Expert the report’s findings to identify ways to also gave further assistance to the OSCE- group discussions on pre-trial detention improve the situation of detained children. UNDP-UNEP Environment and Security were held in November. Before the 6 No- Initiative. vember parliamentary elections, the courts < 82 | 83 > Members of the Office followed the voting process during the parliamentary elections on 6 November, which were monitored by OSCE/Ulvi Akhundlu OSCE/Ulvi the ODIHR. The Office closely monitored political rallies and public events and fol- lowed the process in the event of arrests. Gender issues. The Office’s focus in this field was on increasing the participation of women in the parliamentary election as voters, activists, observers and candi- dates. In co-operation with the local media NGO, Internews, the Office produced a series of feature stories and debates under the title Women and Elections broadcast countrywide until the day of the polls. During the year, the Office hosted several gender roundtables, which were attended by international organizations, donors and Police and demonstrators at a pre-election rally in Baku in September. representatives of embassies. Supporting the creation of a civil regis- Supporting political dialogue. One of try. An international expert commissioned the Office’s key priorities was to support by the Office assessed the work needed to talks between the authorities and the op- set up a nationwide civil registry,