Human rights became everybody’s business.

For me, the greatest contribution of the Helsinki process and the OSCE has been to internationalize human rights. Principle Seven of the Helsinki Final Act and the Moscow Document of 1991 opened up the so-called internal affairs of States to international scrutiny. Human rights became everybody’s business.

When I visited Czechoslovakia in 1977, I could see the importance that dissidents like Vaclav Havel and Jan Patocka attached to CSCE commitments. Showing solidarity with them was the least that we could do to make the Helsinki commitments come to life.

As High Commissioner on National Minorities, my mandate was based on the idea of legitimate intrusiveness. I could decide where to go and I could hold governments to account for the way they treated persons belonging to national minorities. I believe this played a key role in preventing conflict and improving inter-ethnic relations.

As the OSCE enters a new decade and goes through a process of reform, it should not compromise its well-established record of holding States accountable for the protection of human rights.

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