UNMIK/PR/299
PRISTINA— The Department for Democratic Governance and Civil Society has been given its legal basis with the signature of the Special Representative of the Secretary General, Dr Bernard Kouchner.
It brings to 14 the number of Joint Interim Administration departments which have been given a legal basis with the SRSG’s signature.
The Department will be promoting human rights, equal opportunities, transparency in governance, rule of law and independent media. It will also be working to encourage public participation in society and towards minority reintegration.
Its role in the interim government will be largely that of an advisor and a monitor. It will assist departments to prepare regulations which are within international human rights standards and other basic democratic principles. The department will have a training component to ensure that civil servants are aware of these principles.
But it will also have the job of monitor – trying to ensure that all the departments within the administrative structure promote democratic governance and civil society. This will partly be done through independent bodies, which it will establish, that will provide impartial monitoring and analysis.
The Department for Democratic Governance and Civil Society which comes under the institution building pillar, the OSCE, has already been working for several months. Its two co-heads are Vjosa Dobruna and Robert Pulver. Their staff has already been providing its assistance on other departments’ regulations. And it has been examining the programmes of political parties to ensure that they are within international human rights standards.