(Personal Representatives of the Chairman-in-Office to promote greater tolerance and combat racism, xenophobia and discrimination)

On 22 January 2009, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Dora Bakoyannis appointed three new personal representatives on tolerance and non-discrimination.

The first three representatives were appointed by the Bulgarian OSCE Chairmanship in December 2004 and their mandates extended by subsequent Chairmanships from 2005 to 2008.

Rabbi Andrew Baker
Personal Representative on Combating Anti-Semitism

Rabbi Andrew Baker is director of International Jewish Affairs at the American Jewish Committee (AJC), which he joined in 1979. A leading expert on anti-Semitism in Europe, he travels extensively to strengthen relations between the AJC and Jewish communities worldwide. Throughout most of the 1990s, as director of European Affairs, Rabbi Baker promoted tolerance in the emerging democracies of Central and Eastern Europe. He is active in Holocaust restitution issues and in 2003 was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit by Germany for his work in German-Jewish relations.

Ambassador Vyacheslav Gizzatov
Personal Representative on Combating Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims

Since 2005, Ambassador Vyacheslav Gizzatov has been Head of the Governmental Delegation on Delimitation and Demarcation of the State Border and Special Adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan. He was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Turkmenistan from 2003 to 2005, to Germany from 2000 to 2003, and to Iran from 1997 to 2000. Before this, he was Deputy Foreign Minister from 1993 to 1997 and Head of the Ministry's Department on America and Europe from 1992 to 1993.

Mr. Mario Mauro
Personal Representative on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, also focusing on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians and Members of Other Religions

Mario Mauro is a member of the European Parliament's High Level Group on gender equality and diversity, and works to ensure the equal treatment regarding working conditions in the European institutions. He is a member of the Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Committee, where he has successfully promoted 35 motions on cases of discrimination, racism and other breaches of human rights, as well as on promoting democracy and the rule of law. He is also the Parliament's Vice-President responsible for relations with churches and religious communities.