Regional conference "Parliamentary Oversight: The Power to Hold to Account"

The conference will provide a platform for parliamentarians and other stakeholders from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to discuss the importance of parliamentary oversight and share lessons learned and good practices on instruments of parliamentary oversight.

Parliamentary oversight, together with the functions of parliaments to represent and legislate, is one of the cornerstones of representative democracy. Oversight is an effective instrument to ensure checks and balances and hold the executive government accountable for its policies and decisions. The robust monitoring of the executive by the parliament is an indicator of good governance, as it ensures balance of power and asserts the role of parliaments as defender of people’s interests.

With contributions from a number of members of parliaments, international experts and civil society organizations, the conference will highlight the important role of parliaments in advancing democratic governance and the strong link between oversight and the promotion of human rights standards which lie at the core of OSCE commitments. As well as giving participants the opportunity to share good practices on parliamentary oversight, the conference will initiate a discussion on these issues that will help develop future assistance by ODIHR to national parliaments across the OSCE region.

The discussion will also highlight how effective oversight enhances parliament’s relevance in the modern world and its overall contribution to the people’s well-being. By strengthening the system of oversight, parliament becomes stronger as an institution and thus enjoys greater legitimacy. 

Supporting democratic institutions, in particular the legislative, executive and judicial branches, is an integral part of ODIHR’s core mandate. The event will be organized as part of the ODIHR Project “Strengthening Inclusive and Accountable Democratic Institutions in the OSCE Region”.