Our mandate on tolerance and non-discrimination

All OSCE States have recognized that lasting security can only be achieved through respect for human rights and strong democratic institutions. For this reason, they have committed themselves to a comprehensive catalogue of human rights and democracy standards, which form the basis of what the OSCE calls the human dimension of security.

The OSCE’s mandate on tolerance and non-discrimination goes back to the Helsinki Document 1992, which mandates the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to help the participating States “ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms … as well as promote tolerance throughout society.”

Over the following decades, the OSCE States further developed this mandate and adopted a large number of politically binding commitments relating to what has become known as the human dimension of the OSCE’s comprehensive security concept.

A thematic and chronological compilation of these commitments provides an overview of the States' commitments in the human dimension.