In a number of cases, OSCE human dimension commitments go far beyond the level provided for in traditional, legally binding human-rights instruments.

In traditional human-rights treaties, individual (or group) rights are formulated, and the state party has the obligation to respect and/or guarantee those rights. How to implement these obligations, however, is most often left to the discretion of the states.
 
The OSCE human dimension goes much further in linking human rights with the institutional and political system of a state. In essence, OSCE states have agreed through their human dimension commitments that pluralistic democracy based on the rule of law is the only system of government suitable to guarantee human rights effectively.

This explains why the OSCE human dimension has been described as a common pan-European public order (ordre public). In other words, the OSCE is not simply an organization of 56 participating States, but a "community of values".  This linkage is also reflected in the strong commitment to the rule of law and in the way it is formulated, as a concept based on the dignity of the human person and a system of rights through law/legal structures.