Protecting Internet freedom, human rights and fighting transnational threats should be top priorities, say participants of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly meeting

VIENNA, 23 February 2012 - Addressing security challenges in the OSCE region is the focus of the eleventh Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which started today in Vienna, bringing together an estimated 250 parliamentarians from more than 50 OSCE participating States.

In his opening address to the two-day meeting, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Petros Efthymiou spoke of the need for governments to respect rule of law, particularly in prison systems, and called for better protection of freedom online. “We all have the responsibility in our home parliaments to advocate for laws that protect freedom of expression wherever that expression is taking place,” he said.  “To ensure citizens remain free from government pressure online requires us to take more difficult action.”

In emphasizing the role parliamentarians should play to rebuild trust in government and address challenges faced by OSCE participating States, Efthymiou said countries should consider sanctioning companies that willingly sell technology that they know is going to be used to restrict internet freedom.

President of the Austrian Parliament Barbara Prammer called on the parliamentarians to protect and strengthen OSCE commitments, especially in the human dimension. “It is especially vital now, after all initiatives in this area have failed to gain consensus at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Vilnius in December,” she stressed.

Prammer welcomed the priority of Ireland as 2012 OSCE Chairmanship with regard to gender equality. She also called on the parliamentarians of those OSCE participating states who have not yet done so to ratify the Agreement for the Establishment of the International Anti-Corruption Academy as an International Organization, as well as the Oslo Convention on Cluster Munitions.

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier highlighted the need to strengthen relations between the Parliamentary Assembly and the OSCE’s executive structures. He encouraged parliamentarians “to play a more active role in developing new, ‘outside the box’ ideas, and providing fresh inputs to the OSCE’s intergovernmental dialogue”. Zannier underlined also the “crucial role” parliamentarians play within the states they represent, reminding governments of the commitments they have undertaken and working to ensure their full implementation.

He stressed that key decisions taken by OSCE foreign ministers in Vilnius, such as those on conflict resolution, strengthening engagement with Afghanistan and other Partners for Co-operation and addressing transnational threats “recognize the need for greater coherence across the OSCE family in pursuing our common goals”.

The Winter Meeting started this morning with a meeting of the Assembly’s Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, in which former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak took part, along with Bill Browder of Hermitage Capital Management, who spoke about the case of Sergei Magnitsky;  Eugenia Tymoshenko, daughter of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and Iryna Bogdanova, sister of Andrey Sannikov, former presidential candidate currently imprisoned in Belarus.

The meeting will include a special debate on Friday, 24 February, on The Future of Conventional Arms Control in the OSCE Area, in which leading experts from the United States and the Russian Federation are expected to participate.

Also on 24 February, the Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Irish Minister of State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton will address the Assembly, as will OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on Gender Issues Hedy Fry.

All sessions are open to the media, and will be webstreamed live at www.oscepa.org.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is comprised of 320 parliamentarians from 55 countries spanning Europe, Central Asia and North America. The Assembly provides a forum for parliamentary diplomacy, monitors elections, and strengthens international co-operation in upholding commitments on political, security, economic, environmental and human rights issues.