The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is the principal institution of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) dealing with the "human dimension" of security. The office, originally named Office for Free Elections, was created in 1990 by the Charter of Paris and established in 1991. The name of the office was changed in 1992 to reflect the broadened mandate it received at the 1992 Helsinki Summit.

The ODIHR, based in Warsaw (Poland) is active throughout the 56 participating States of the OSCE. It assists governments to live up to their commitments as participating States of the OSCE in the areas of elections, human rights, democracy, rule of law, and tolerance and non-discrimination. The office also hosts the organisation's Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues.

The ODIHR is best known for its role in observing elections. It has observed over 150 elections across the OSCE region and has deployed some 35,000 observers.

The office organises the annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw, Europe's largest human rights conference.

The ODIHR's Director is Ambassador Janez Lenarčič (Slovenia). The office has a staff of close to 150.

ODIHR Directors[link]

• Janez Lenarčič (Slovenia): 2008-
• Christian Strohal (Austria): 2003-2008
• Gérard Stoudmann (Switzerland): 1997-2003
• Audrey Glover (United Kingdom): 1994-1997
• Luchino Cortese (Italy): 1991-1997

External links[link]

• Official website

Heidi Tagliavini (born 1950 in Basel)^[1] is a Swiss diplomat noted for her service with international aid and peacekeeping missions; a 2003 profile in the monthly magazine of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung called her "Switzerland's outstanding diplomat".^[2] She was charged with leading the European Union investigation into the causes of the 2008 South Ossetia War.^[3]

Career[link]

After joining the Swiss diplomatic service in 1982, Tagliavini served in the Directorate of Political Affairs of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and was posted to The Hague.^[4] She was a member of the first Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Assistance Group to Chechnya in 1995.^[4] In 1996, she served as Minister and Deputy Head of Mission of the Swiss embassy in Moscow.^[4] From 1998 to 1999, she was the Deputy Head of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (Unomig).^[4] Returning to Switzerland in 1999, she was appointed head of Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy in the Department of Foreign Affairs.^[4]

After a stint as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Caucasus from 2000 to 2001,^[4] Tagliavini served as Swiss Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2001 to 2002,^[4] and was asked by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to head Unomig in 2002.^[2] She served in that position until 2006, when she returned to Berne to assume the position of deputy head of the Directorate of Political Affairs in the Department of Foreign Affairs.^[5] Late 2009/early 2010 Tagliavini lead the OSCE Election Observation Mission during the 2010 Ukrainian presidential elections.^[6]

South Ossetia war fact-finding mission[link]

On 21 November 2008, it was announced that Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey, the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, had agreed to the EU presidency's request to have Tagliavini lead the EU investigation into the chain of events leading to the 2008 South Ossetia war between Russia and Georgia in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.^[3] The independent international fact-finding mission headed by Tagliavini was given a budget of €1.6 million. Its report was published on 30 September 2009.

Publications[link]

Tagliavini co-published a book, The Caucasus - Defence of the Future (2001),^[7] in which she recounts her Chechnya experiences. An amateur photographer, she is also the author of Zeichen der Zerstörung,^[8] a book featuring her photographs of war-torn Chechnya.^[9]

References[link]

Menduh Thaçi (born 3 March 1965) is the president of DPA (Democratic Party of Albanians).^[1]

Thaçi was born in Tetovo (Macedonia), his parents were both from Kosovo, he is the fifth of six children. He attended primary and secondary school in Tetovo and graduated from the University of Pristina.

He has been an active politician for 20 years. He started as vice-president of the Party for Democratic Prosperity of Albanians (PDPA). In 1997 a merger was formed between the Party for Democratic Prosperity of Albanians (PDPA) and the People's Democratic Party (NDP).

He was vice-president until the year 2006, at that time he was chosen President of the Party, after Arben Xhaferi resigned.

References[link]