20 years. This event proved a productive meeting place between international experts on election observation and election assistance and our experienced observers to develop methodology on election related violence.
Director of NORDEM, Marianne Kvan, on concluding the NORDEM Election Forum 2015.
In June, Therese Abrahamsen, now well into her assignment as Policy Support Officer in the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre, came to present her views and experiences at the OSCE Forum: “Security Policy Challenges in Central Asia and Kyrgyzstan in 2015 - Choosing the way forward”.
A total of 34 NORDEM election observers participated in the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission (EOM) to Ukraine from September through November. As part of the debriefing, NORDEM hosted an OSCE Forum looking at the findings and conclu-sions of the EOM, as well as explored the way forward in light of the crucial and com-prehensive decentralization processes the country is facing.
OSCE Forum
The OSCE Forum was initiated in January 2014 with the aim of strengthening the visibility and knowledge about the OSCE
“at home.” Since the first seminar on human rights in Central Asia was held, NORDEM has hosted a range of briefings, seminars and events providing a platform for engage -ment and debate on important OSCE issues for stakeholders in Oslo. Against the back-drop of the ongoing armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine, increasing political ten-sion, increasing pressure on human rights, and a shrinking space for civil society in the OSCE region, several OSCE Forums were held in 2015, some of them mentioned below.
Two events were held for all seconded personnel to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), in Ukraine and Oslo respectively, with participation of the Foreign Ministry and other relevant partners.
These meetings presented an opportunity not only for NORDEM personnel to meet and exchange experiences between them-selves and the participants, but also to shed light on the situation on the ground in Eastern Ukraine from the “field perspective.”
The “propaganda war” is unfolding in the OSCE region and restrictions on the free-dom of the media are imposed in many places as a result. In May, NORDEM secondee to the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (ROFM) Ingvil Conradi Andersen, together with former foreign policy editor in Aftenposten, Kjell Dragnes, took part in the OSCE Forum
“Propaganda and media: Responses and challenges in the Ukrainian context.”
State Secretary Tore Hattrem outlines some of the priorities and strategies for Norway’s engagement in Ukraine and thanks the NORDEM personnel in SMM for their important work
(photo: NORDEM)
Reports and Publications
The NORDEM thematic paper series, which provides an outlet for NORDEM secondees to convey lessons learned and give recommendations for alternative approaches or policy measures, saw two new publications in 2015: “Strengthening the justice capacity of South Sudan” and
“Enhancing the relevance and impact of the economic and environmental dimension of the OSCE”. The NORDEM thematic papers are published on NORDEM’s web pages.
Seminars and Thematic Meetings NORDEM provides different opportunities for secondees and other partners to pre-sent their work at debriefings and seminars throughout the year. Some of these were opened up for a larger audience.
After the historic elections in Myanmar in November, NORDEM, in cooperation with the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO),
organized a seminar focusing on the find-ings of the election observers and the conditions for further democratic transition in Myanmar.
Prior to the Norwegian Municipal and County Council elections in September, NORDEM, in cooperation with The Network of Norwegian Election Observers, invited to a thematic meeting that took a closer look at the Norwegian electoral system and asked whether it complies with international standards.
The seminar provided an overview of the most important aspects of the critique and recommendations made by the Election Assessment Team from ODIHR/OSCE and how Norway responded, including which recommendations were followed up on and why Norway decided not to accept certain recommendations.
Photo: NORDEM
NORDEM Secretariat Contributions to External Events
The staff of the NORDEM secretariat is also frequently asked to provide their expertise to external events. Through these activities, NORDEM is an important contributor, not only to the development of strategies, methodology and best practices of field missions and implementing agencies, but also to research and policy making.
NORDEM was invited to participate in the Norwegian Consultation Workshop on the UN Peace Operations held by the Norwegian MFA in January 2015. NORDEM staff pre-sented recommendations on civilian capac-ities and on the protection of civilians. The contributions were based on NORDEM’s experiences with providing civilian personnel to missions in general and to MONUSCO and UNMISS in particular, as well as on inputs from secondees in these operations.
In March, NORDEM was invited to speak to 250 municipal employees from all over
the country gathered to prepare for organizing the Norwegian elections later that year. NORDEM provided insight into the principles of international election observation, and emphasized how the presence of observers can enhance the electoral process and that Norway has committed to receiving international election observers.
At the invitation of NUPI, NORDEM pre-sented at the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) summer workshop “The Evolution of UN Peace Operations: Contemporary Challenges and Requirements” in October. Together with representatives from the Norwegian MFA, the Ministry of Defence and the Police Directorate, NORDEM provided the partici-pants – UN staff, researchers, NGO practi-tioners and government officials – with a
“Norwegian Perspective on UN Peacekeeping.”
(photo: NORDEM)