When politics stall, the European Convention on Human Rights moves us forward, says Council of Europe Secretary General at OSCE Permanent Council

VIENNA, 9 June 2016 – Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland, in his  address to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, highlighted the value of the Human Rights Convention and called on the 57 OSCE participating States to “put these shared standards and common laws at the heart of our approach to stability in Europe and beyond.”

“Where politics stall, the Convention and its basis in law move us forward,” said Jagland.

Jagland noted that Europe is now immersed in an ongoing economic crisis, a refugee crisis, a terrorism crisis. “From a stability perspective, it is an extremely dangerous cocktail. Preventing upheaval and violence will only be possible if we have proper checks and balances and rule of law, in order to stop the corruption and abuses of power. We need trusted, democratic institutions and social rights, in order to ease the anti-politics mood that is feeding populism across our nations.”

“Our shared stability depends on deepening a common legal space in which core democratic principles are upheld,” said Jagland.

Welcoming General Secretary Jagland, Ambassador Eberhard Pohl, Chair of the OSCE Permanent Council, pointed out that the Council of Europe and the OSCE share the same principles and values, and stressed that “effective co-operation and exchange between our organizations are key in addressing together the security challenges ahead.”