Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

In the wake of a rise of anti-Semitism in the OSCE region in recent years, OSCE participating States have committed themselves to strengthen their efforts to confront all manifestations of anti-Semitism, and all other acts of intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief, wherever they occur. Anti-Semitism should not be seen as a threat only to Jews but to society as whole. Combating anti-Semitism is a task for all democratic forces in society.

At the Ministerial Councils at Porto (December 2002) and Maastricht (December 2003), the OSCE decided to take action to confront the increase in anti-Semitic incidents. The OSCE event in Vienna in June 2003 was the first high-level conference by an international organization to be devoted to anti-Semitism. A second conference on anti-Semitism was held in Berlin in 2004.

In April 2004, the OSCE adopted a Permanent Council Decision No.607 on Combating Anti-Semitism, which was endorsed by the OSCE Ministerial Council in Sofia, December 2004. In the Cordoba Declaration, June 2005, the participating States once again condemned without reserve all manifestations of anti-Semitism and reiterated that "international developments or political issues, including in Israel or elsewhere in the Middle East, never justify anti-Semitism".

In order to implement existing commitments by the participating States, the OSCE Ministerial Council tasked the ODIHR to collect and disseminate information on best practices for preventing and responding to anti-Semitism and to assist participating States in their efforts to prevent and respond to anti-Semitism.