WARSAW, 23 September 2011 – Some 1000 government representatives and civil society activists from the OSCE’s 56 participating States will gather in Warsaw from 26 September for a two-week conference to review progress in implementing the commitments adopted by governments in the field of human rights and democracy. 

The annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting is Europe’s largest human rights conference.  

Khadija Chérif, the Secretary General of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and one of the leading figures in Tunisia’s civil society movement, will deliver a key-note address to open the conference, which is organized by the Warsaw-based OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The conference scrutinizes achievements made by participating States in honouring their human rights commitments, including in areas such as freedom of assembly and other fundamental freedoms, prevention of hate crimes, the rule of law, and trafficking in human beings.

This year’s meeting will feature special sessions on freedom of movement, democratic elections, and Roma and Sinti.    

The conference will play an important role in setting the OSCE’s human rights agenda ahead of the annual meeting of OSCE foreign ministers which will take place in Vilnius in December. 

The meeting is unique in that civil society groups have full access to working sessions and can discuss challenges with government representatives on an equal footing.
 
On the margins of the meeting, more than 50 side events organized by governments, civil society groups and OSCE institutions and field operations will highlight specific topics of concern and country situations. 

Senior OSCE officials, including the OSCE’s top human rights representative, ODIHR Director Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek, the OSCE Representative on the Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović, and the OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier will take part in the opening session.

Representatives of the OSCE’s 12 partner countries from the Mediterranean region, Asia and Australia are also participating in the conference.

Journalists are invited to attend the opening session, which will begin at 10:00 on Monday, 26 September, in Hotel Victoria, ul. Krolewska, Warsaw, as well as all regular working sessions and side events.

The agenda, a list of side events and other information are available in English and Russian on the conference website: www.osce.org/event/hdim_2011

Follow the conference on ODIHR’s Facebook page, or on Twitter at @osce_odihr