Women‘s Political Participation

in the OSCE region Consultation meeting on gender sensitive parliaments:

Indicators and assesment

Vilnius, 13 September 2016

osce.org/odihr

Who are we?

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is one of the world’s principal regional human rights bodies. Based in Warsaw, Poland, ODIHR is active throughout Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North America. The Office promotes democratic elections, respect for human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination, and the rule of law. Established in 1991, ODIHR employs nearly 150 staff from 30 countries.

ODIHR is tasked with assisting OSCE participating States to ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; to abide by the rule of law; to promote principles of democracy; to build, strengthen and protect democratic institutions; and to promote tolerance throughout their societies. The Office also plays an important role in enhancing dialogue among States, governments and civil society.

ODIHR and Democratic Governance

Parliamentary Ethics

“Written list of principles and/or rules that should

guide the conduct of MPs”

ODIHR Programmatic Work

- Background Study: Professional and Ethical Standards for Parliaments since 2012

- Work with Parliaments (MPs and staff) on awareness raising, development and implementation of codes of conducts

- Actively supporting the development of a code in more than 12 participating States (recent/current focus on Albania, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Portugal, Serbia and Ukraine)

- Striving to include a gender perspective in the codes of ethics

Women’s Political Participation

Women and politics- Baseline

Study

Political parties

Elections

Parliaments

Good practices

Gender Audit of Political Parties: ODIHR Methodology

Stage 1: Consultations

with party leadership and party activists; data gathering

Stage 2: Individual

Gender Audit reports of

political parties

Stage 3: Capacity building and

development of Gender Action

Plans of political parties

Stage 4: Implementation & monitoring of Gender Action Plans; further

capacity building

Target countries: Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (upcoming)

Gender-Sensitive Parliaments Montenegro In 2015- 2016, ODIHR provided assistance to the Parliament of Montenegro in developing a roadmap towards a gender sensitive parliament. The roadmap has been used as a foundation to develop a gender action plan for the Parliament. Ukraine The Equal Opportunities Caucus of the Parliament of Ukraine, requested ODIHR’s support during the on-going drafting process of a gender action plan for the Parliament of Ukraine. Women’s Parliamentary Networks/Structures ODIHR has been providing support in capacity building, facilitated exchange of good practices and worked to advance networking among women MPs.

Example from the OSCE region: Gender Week in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Thank you for your attention!

Tiina Kukkamaa- Bah Chief of Democratic Governance and Gender Unit Tiina.Kukkamaa-Bah@odihr.pl OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights ul. Miodowa 10 00-251 Warsaw Poland http://www.osce.org/odihr/gender