Oskar Lehner

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY November 2011 – ongoing Senior Election Adviser, UNDP, Afghanistan Under the supervision of the CTA to implement a 90 million USD election assistance project with the focus on capacity development of the Afghan Independent Election Commission. September - November 2011 Deputy Head of Mission, OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission to Kyrgyzstan Under the supervision of the Head of Mission coordinating the work of the election observation mission and preparing the assessment of the 30 October 2010 presidential elections. October 2009 – December 2010 Project manager, UNDP, Tanzania Under the supervision of the UNDP CD to implement a 28,5 million USD election assistance project with the following components or cross cutting issues: Strengthen the capacity of the two election management bodies (NEC and ZEC) to conduct democratic elections, Assistance to voter registration, Voter education and civil society capacity building, Support to women as voters and candidates, Support to media to cover the elections objectively, Increase the capacity of political parties with regard to election, Support to election observation (domestic and international), Support to maintain a peaceful environment. Achievements: The 2010 elections in Tanzania and in Zanzibar were significantly better than in 2005. March 2007 – March 2009 Human Rights Adviser, United Nations Country Team, Kyrgyzstan Capacity Building for UN Country Team and the UN agencies working in Kyrgyzstan in implementing a Human Rights Based Approach. Designing a program for the UN Country Team to strengthening the Kyrgyz Human Rights system to protect and promote Human Rights. Developing a Human Rights strategy for the UN Country team in Kyrgyzstan. Assistance to the Kyrgyz Ombudsman Institution. To function as UNDP focal point concerning the 2007 parliamentary election. October - November 2006 Deputy Head of Mission, OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission to Tajikistan Under the supervision of the Head of Mission coordinating the work of the election observation mission and preparing the assessment of the 6 November 2006 presidential elections. January 2005 – May 2006 Chief Technical Advisor for Election / UNDP Kyrgyzstan As the head of the project “Support to Democratic Election in the Kyrgyz Republic” I managed the implementation of the UNDP election assistance project (1,7 million USD) for the 2005 election cycle (parliamentary-, presidential-, local elections). The assistance consisted of support to the election administration (capacity building), voter education and support to the cooperation between the Central Election Commission and all other stakeholders of the election process. In the course of the project UNDP became the lead agency regarding election assistance in Kyrgyzstan and coordinated the international assistance. December 2004 Member of the OSCE/ODIHR Assessment Mission to Tajikistan / ODIHR Together with two other team members I prepared an assessment on the feasibility of a OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission for the 2005 Parliamentary election. February – November 2004 Deputy Chief Observer / European Union Election Observation Mission to Indonesia In cooperation with the Chief Observer I was leading a 230 person strong mission observing the legislative and presidential election in Indonesia. The mission, which was the biggest and longest EU election observation mission so far, set new standards with regard to the organizational and analytical level of EU election observation. October 2003– February 2004 Country Director Tajikistan / International Foundation for Election Systems The office implemented civic education and political party development projects and provided technical assistance to the preparation of the upcoming parliamentary election as well as to the parliament. Main achievements of the IFES Tajikistan office during my term: Publishing a civic education textbook for Tajik secondary schools plus related teachers’ manual, conducting county-wide teachers’ trainings on the textbook, developing two separate training cycles (three-day seminars) for local politicians and female political activists, assistance to the reform of the electoral law, successful fundraising for office activities. March – May 2003 Deputy Chief Observer / European Union Election Observation Mission to Nigeria In close coordination with the Chief Observer I lead the observation mission consisting of 111 international mission members who observed the presidential, gubernatorial and parliamentary election in Nigeria. The duties comprised of establishing the mission, defining working priorities and making policy decisions, meetings with government representatives and politicians, media contacts, coordination of the work of the core team and the observes, preparation of weekly reports and the final report. August – October 2002 Deputy Chief Observer / European Union Election Observation Mission to Pakistan Under the supervision of the Chief Observer I coordinated and organized the work of the observation mission consisting of 88 international observers. In close cooperation with civil society organizations the mission successfully observed the year 2002 parliamentary elections in Pakistan. Among others my duties included establishing the mission’s analytical priorities and observation methodology; holding regular meetings with government representatives, the election commission, political parties and NGOs; ensuring the mission’s visibility and contributing to the preparation of the final report. April – May 2002 Long Term Observer / European Union Election Observation Mission in Sierra Leone Observation of the preparation and the conduct of the parliamentary and presidential election in the Bombali district. December 2000 – December 2001 Head of Field Office / OSCE Mission in Kosovo From December 2000 on I coordinated the work of the OSCE FO Vushtrri consisting of three departments (election, democratization, human rights). The office successfully organized and conducted the Kosovo Assembly Election in the Vushtrri / Vucitrn district (103.000 inhabitants). It further assisted the build-up of the new local administration, trained political parties and achieved the start of an inter-ethnic dialogue between K/Albanians and K/Serbs on community level in order to ease ethnic tensions. September 2000 – December 2000 Project Coordinator Kosovo Law Center / OSCE Mission in Kosovo The OSCE funded Kosovo Law Center has been created in order to assist the reform of Kosovo’s legal system and administration. My tasks as project coordinator included the organizational build-up of the Center, budgeting and financial administration, procurement, coordination and supervision of projects, capacity building to train local experts, networking in order to link local NGOs with similar institutions in Europe, scholarship programs, establishing a legal library, contribution to the reform of the law faculty and organizing publications and seminars. January 2000-March 2000 Deputy Head of Mission, Political Officer / Joint UN/OSCE Election Observation Mission to Tajikistan After the build-up of the Mission I coordinated (under the supervision of the HoM) the work of 40 Election Observers to the Tajik parliamentary election and represented the Mission in the high-level Contact Group Guaranteeing the Implementation of the Tajik Peace Accord. In addition I produced the Mission’s final report and drafted a number of election-related rules and regulations, which later were adopted by the Tajik Central Election Commission. April 1998-December 1999 Deputy Head of Mission, Field Coordinator / OSCE Mission to Tajikistan I was coordinating the work of six field offices covering whole Tajikistan in particular with regard to the OSCE support for the first post-war parliamentary elections (1999) and presidential elections (2000), promotion of human rights and gender awareness, coordination of project implementation and provision of assistance to institution building (election commission, judiciary, parliament, ombudsman). Furthermore I co-represented the OSCE Mission in the Contact Group guaranteeing the implementation of the Tajik Peace Accord. In summer 1998 I was leading the Mission as Acting Head of Mission for two months until a new HoM was assigned. October 1997 – April 1998 Legal Advisor / OSCE Mission to Croatia I provided legal analysis concerning the Croatian legislation (property, employment) and the performance of Croatian law enforcement agencies with particular focus on its impact on a possible return of IDPs and refugees. The findings were used to formulate the Mission’s report requesting necessary amendments and improvements to bring the Croatian legislation in line with international standards. September 1996 – July 1997 Head of Coordination Office / OSCE Mission to Croatia After having built up the OSCE Regional Office in Knin in September 1996 the office became the lead-institution in the AoR with regard to human rights monitoring/intervention. In cooperation with other international organizations the office achieved creating political conditions, which made it possible for the remaining members of ethnic minorities to stay. The office created a Legal Aid Project (supported by the OSCE HC for National Minorities), which later has been turned into a local NGO specialised on providing legal assistance to vulnerable groups. Furthermore the office observed the preparation of the 1997 Croatian election. February 1996 – August 1996 Director for Human Rights and Democratization / OSCE Mission to Bosnia As part of the “first wave” I was responsible for the build-up of the human rights and democratization department of the newly established OSCE Mission to Bosnia. My tasks included designing the department’s structure, defining working priorities, supervising the work of 45 human rights officers, developing methods of human rights intervention, analysis of the impact of the newly emerging property legislations on the ethnic communities (special report on property and housing), provision of technical assistance to the Federal Ombudsman Institution (opening of two new sub-offices), creation of a support net work to improve the work of domestic NGOs (project design, fund raising), cooperation with other international organizations and representing the Mission at international conferences. January 1996 – February 1996 Mid-Term Election Observer / EU Election Monitoring Mission to Palestine Observation of political rallies, liaising with political parties and monitoring a polling station. September 1994 – July 1995 Head of Field Office / Mission of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) to Rwanda As one of the first Mission members to be deployed to Rwanda after the genocide I participated in the build-up of the Mission in its initial stage. Later I coordinated the work of the Field Office Gisenyi (covering North-Western Rwanda), supervising the work of ten international human rights officers. Main working areas were human rights protection and investigation of human rights violations in the post genocide period. In the frame of an overall Mission project the field office provided technical and material support to improve prison conditions and to assist re-establishing law enforcement authorities. January 1993 – July 1993 Election Investigation Officer / UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) I investigated some 80 cases of breaches of electoral rules and election related crimes in the Kampong Cham Province. During the six days lasting polling period I supervised two polling stations and trouble-shooted in polling stations where security problems occurred. November 1978 – July 1994 Assistant / Associate Professor for Austrian Legal History / law faculty, University Linz For a period of six-teen years I provided lectures to law students, took exams and conducted research work with regard to selected areas of the European legal history (constitutional and administrative law, development of an independent judiciary, family law, gender issues, rights of children and vulnerable groups, drug policy). My key interest was focused on the interlink between political history and legal reform, the implementation of rule of law in European state institutions and the process of democratization in Central Europe with particular focus on the period 18th to 20th century (find a list of publications in the next chapter). January 1988 – September 1988 Trainee at the district and provincial court in Linz / Austria 1979 – 1987 Occasional work as a free-lance journalist in Central America for Austrian newspapers

Thematic Areas of Expertise