OSCE Vienna conference to examine handling of human rights violations
WARSAW, 10 July 2007 - How OSCE countries deal with human rights violations with a focus on responsibilities and remedies will be the topic of a two-day OSCE conference that starts on Thursday in Vienna.
The conference, which is expected to draw some 300 participants, will look at the role of national courts, human rights defenders and independent national human rights institutions in addressing such violations.
It will address some of the concerns that have been expressed in recent years, such as pressure on judges, breaches of transparency, obstacles to accessing justice and attempts to use human rights institutions to hide state violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
This is the second of three annual meetings addressing human rights and democracy organized by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. The keynote speaker will be Vojin Dimitrijevic, Professor of International Law and International Relations at the University of Belgrade and Director of the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights.
Other speakers include Liubov Vinogradova, Director of the Russian Research Centre for Human Rights, Dr. Maurice Manning, President of the Irish Human Rights Commission and Emmanuel Decaux, Professor of Public International Law at the University of Paris II.
Journalists are invited to attend the conference, which will be held from 15.00 to 18.00 on 12 July, and from 9.00 to 17.30 on 13 July, at the Hofburg Congress Centre in Vienna.
For further information, see: Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
Vienna, 12 July - 13 July 2007
For admittance to the Hofburg Congress Centre, please bring your OSCE badge or a valid press card to the security desk (main entrance from the Heldenplatz). Parking space is available for the press during the event in the OSCE-reserved parking area on Heldenplatz. Temporary parking permits must be collected from the security desk.