Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner addresses OSCE, stresses need to co-operate to confront negative trends

VIENNA, 2 February 2012 – The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, in today’s address to the OSCE Permanent Council emphasized the need for the Council or Europe, the OSCE and other international actors to further co-operate to counter negative developments in relation to human rights issues.

Hammarberg said that the priorities of the Council of Europe and the OSCE, especially in the human dimension, are similar, despite the differences in the two organizations’ mandates. “It is very important to increase co-operation and co-ordination between the two,” he said.

Hammarberg specifically mentioned the importance of taking good account of human rights aspects of addressing protracted conflicts in the OSCE region – the area where OSCE plays “an important role”. He said the Council of Europe stood ready to co-operate with the OSCE on this.

At the latest ministerial meeting in Vilnius in December 2011, OSCE participating States reiterated that conflict resolution at all stages “must involve efforts to address violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as intolerance and discrimination”.

In his speech Hammarberg linked human rights concerns to the current economic crisis in Europe, with austerity budgets undermining social rights and putting at greater risk vulnerable groups, and with intolerance and xenophobia “further increased”. “A more serious discussion is needed for a preventive strategy which should include the role of the media and the education system,” he said.

Hammarberg stressed that more attention needs to be paid to addressing human rights violations in the struggle against terrorism.

The Commissioner praised the OSCE’s expertise in election monitoring and emphasized that “people’s distrust towards announced election results is a source of tensions in our societies”. He also emphasized the need to promote the right to peaceful assembly, as well as ensuring respect for national minorities.

He stressed that “freedom and diversity of media are crucial for the development of a well-functioning democracy”. He commended the co-operation with the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media in this area. While the trend in participating States towards the de-criminalization of libel is “encouraging”, other problems in this field, such as lack of media pluralism, still persist, Hammarberg added.

Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent and impartial institution within the Council of Europe, mandated to promote the awareness of and respect for human rights in its member states. Hammarberg took up the position on 1 April 2006. The newly elected Commissioner, Nils Muižnieks, will take up his function on 1 April 2012.

All 47 member states of the Council of Europe are also participating States of the OSCE.

The OSCE Permanent Council is one of the main regular decision-making bodies of the Organization. It convenes weekly in Vienna to discuss developments in the OSCE area and to make appropriate decisions.