OSCE Chair appoints three Personal Representatives to promote tolerance and non-discrimination

SOFIA, 23 December, 2004 - The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, has appointed three people to be his Personal Representatives in the Organization's campaign to promote greater tolerance and combat racism, xenophobia and discrimination in its participating States.

This follows separate OSCE conferences earlier this year in Berlin, Paris and Brussels on anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and discrimination, including the relationship between anti-semitic propaganda on the Internet and hate crimes.

A common recommendation at these events was for the Organization to focus greater efforts on tackling these problems by appointing people of standing to be the CiO's Personal Representatives.

The appointments, confirmed yesterday by the current Chairman-in-Office, will be extended through the duration of the Slovenian Chairmanship in 2005.

Anastasia Crickley, current Chair of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, will serve as Personal Representative on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, also focusing on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians and Members of Other Religions.

A lecturer at the Centre for Applied Social Studies, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, she plays an active role there in promoting equality, diversity and inter-culturalism. Recently, she has been involved in developing responses to the issues faced by immigrants to Ireland, especially through the Migrants Rights Centre.

Gert Weisskirchen, Professor of Higher Education and Member of the German Parliament, will be the CiO's Personal Representative on Combating anti-Semitism. As well as being a Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Professor Weisskirchen is Spokesman of the SPD Parliamentary Group with the Bundestag Committee on Culture and Media Affairs.

Ambassador Ömür Orhun, head of the Turkish Delegation to the OSCE for four years from 2000 to 2004, has agreed to serve as the CiO's Personal Representative on Combating Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims.

His mandate, like that of the other two, includes promoting better co-ordination of participating States' efforts aimed at effectively implementing the decisions taken at Ministerial and Permanent Councils in the field of tolerance and non-discrimination, and co-operating with the Chairman-in-in-Office.

In addition to making these appointments, the OSCE has accepted a Spanish offer to host a Conference on anti-Semitism and on Other Forms of Intolerance, in Cordoba in June 2005.