A. International standards
In addition, soft-law standards in this area can be found in the recommendations of UN, Council of Europe and OSCE bodies and institutions. These include General Comment 25 of the UN Human Rights Committee on the right to participate in public affairs, voting rights and the right of equal access to public service,[1] Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Recommendation 2003 (4) on Common Rules Against Corruption in the Funding of Political Parties and Electoral Campaigns,[2] as well as the Joint Guidelines on Political Party Regulation issued by OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission (hereinafter “the Guidelines”).[3] Reference will also be made in this Joint Opinion to reports by the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO),[4] previous opinions issued by the OSCE/ODIHR (individually or jointly with the Venice Commission), as well as reports from previous OSCE/ODIHR election observation missions in Serbia.[5]
[1] UN Human Rights Committee General Comment 25, The right to participate in public affairs, voting rights and the right of equal access to public service, UN Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.7.
Available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/453883fc22.html.
[2] Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Recommendation 2003 (4) on Common Rules Against Corruption in the Funding of Political Parties and Electoral Campaigns, available at:
http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/greco/general/Rec(2003)94_EN.pdf.
[3] OSCE/ODIHR and Venice Commission Guidelines on Political Party Regulation, available at: http://www.osce.org/odihr/77812; and http://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-AD(2010)024-e.
[4] Available at: http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/greco/default_en.asp. See in particular the 2012 GRECO Compliance Report on Serbia, which can be found at:
http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/greco/evaluations/round3/GrecoRC3(2012)16_Serbia_EN.pdf.
[5] All OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission reports can be found at:
http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/serbia.
