Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

standards. The foundation has designed and delivered a tailored programme of
support to strengthen the capacity of the Macedonian parliament to uphold and
advance human rights, in partnership with the Macedonian Young Lawyers
Association and the UK’s International Bar Association. The foundation also
provided training for members and staff of the Macedonian Assembly’s Oversight
Committee on Human Rights. This was conducted by local human rights experts,
supported by an expert from the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights,
and focused on the Macedonian parliament’s role in upholding the rule of law and
implementing constitutional and human rights obligations.
In Uganda, the foundation has worked with the Uganda Women Parliamentary
Association over a number of years to support gender legislation advocacy. In 2009
the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association launched a common women’s
legislative agenda in the Ugandan parliament. As a result, four new progressive
gender bills were enacted in 2010, improving women’s rights and access to justice.
In Iraq, the foundation and its local and regional partners developed a think tank to
provide specialist advice in parliamentary affairs and public policies. The think tank
has since published policy papers on key issues relating to health, education,
transparency and women’s rights. Women’s political rights continue to be the focus
of the foundation’s work in the Middle East.
In Lebanon, the foundation supported the Lebanese parliament’s finance committee
in strengthening its budgetary oversight function, including through reviewing a new
government pensions bill. As a result of its findings, the Lebanese parliament
established a sub-committee where the pensions bill could be discussed and
analysed by representatives of all political parties and trade unions, with the
participation of the minister of labour. The bill was subsequently revised and will
improve social and economic rights for Lebanese citizens by providing a pensions
law for the first time, fully budgeted by the Lebanese government and consistent with
international standards.
In 2010, the foundation also partnered with the International Bar Association’s
Human Rights Institute under the Westminster Consortium programme, in Ukraine,
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