Media advisory

WARSAW, 25 September 2008 - More than 1,000 government representatives, experts and human rights defenders are set to meet in Warsaw beginning on Monday to review progress made by the OSCE's 56 participating States in fulfilling their human rights and democracy commitments.

The OSCE's 13th Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, held from 29 September to 10 October, is organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The conference will review the whole range of human rights and democracy commitments undertaken by the OSCE's participating States.

This year's special focus areas include freedom of religion or belief, assistance to victims of human trafficking and human rights education.

Civil society groups have full access to the conference, and a record number of non-governmental organizations are expected to attend.

More than 50 side events, many organized by non-governmental organizations, will focus on specific issues such as the human rights situation in certain countries.

Two major publications will be launched by ODIHR during the conference: a report on hate-motivated incidents in the OSCE region, and a status report on the implementation of the OSCE's 2003 Action Plan on Roma and Sinti.

Journalists are invited to attend the opening session, which will begin at 10:00 on Monday, 29 September, in Hotel Victoria, ul. Krolewska, Warsaw, as well as all regular working sessions and side events.

The agenda, daily updates, interviews with participants and short summaries of events in English and Russian as well as other information will be available on the conference website: www.osce.org/conferences/hdim_2008.html