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Largest all-European human rights conference opens
WARSAW 17 October 2000
WARSAW, 17 October 2000 - Government representatives from 54 OSCE participating States, human rights experts, and more than 150 international and non-governmental organizations today gathered in Warsaw for the opening of the largest all-European human rights conference, the annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting. Until 27 October, the more than 400 participants will examine the OSCE States' performance in implementing the commitments they have undertaken in the fields of human rights and democracy. The conference will also focus on the most recent events on the top of the international agenda such as the democratic change in Yugoslavia.
Twenty-five years after the signing of the Helsinki Final Act and ten years after the end of the Cold War, the opening session of this year's Implementation Meeting concentrated on taking stock of where the OSCE stands in promoting human rights and democracy, and sharing ideas on how to further improve the assistance provided by the OSCE to governments and civil society. "During the last years, unsolved minority questions and a virulent nationalism in a number of OSCE countries led to the emergence of conflicts where civilians have increasingly become victims", said Ambassador Jutta Stefan-Bastl, the representative of the Austrian Chairmanship of the OSCE. "The security of the individual will have to become a more visible part of the OSCE's comprehensive concept of security."
"Following years of tremendous increase in OSCE activities in the field of democracy and human rights, we now stand at a crossroads", said Ambassador Gerard Stoudmann, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR). "We have to ensure that the OSCE remains an organization that is able to address human rights and democratization issues in an effective and non-bureaucratic way." The ODIHR Director emphasised that human rights problems are not limited to countries of transition. "We will continue to look at human rights violations wherever and whenever they happen."
The Implementation Meeting is organized annually by the OSCE/ODIHR in co-operation with the OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office. The conference will cover the whole range of issues relating to the human dimension of the OSCE: human rights and fundamental freedoms, rule of law, democratization, and national minorities. Thirteen sessions, each introduced by renowned human rights experts, are scheduled to review the OSCE countries' record in such fields as trafficking in human beings, preventing torture, children's rights, minority rights, and the freedom of the media. A number of additional informal meetings will be held on the margins of the conference, including one on Roma refugees and asylum seekers. A detailed agenda and additional background information is available on the OSCE/ODIHR web site at www.osce.org/odihr.
For further information contact Jens-Hagen Eschenbächer, OSCE/ODIHR Public Affairs Officer at +48-22-5200600-4162 or +48-603683122 (mobile).
Twenty-five years after the signing of the Helsinki Final Act and ten years after the end of the Cold War, the opening session of this year's Implementation Meeting concentrated on taking stock of where the OSCE stands in promoting human rights and democracy, and sharing ideas on how to further improve the assistance provided by the OSCE to governments and civil society. "During the last years, unsolved minority questions and a virulent nationalism in a number of OSCE countries led to the emergence of conflicts where civilians have increasingly become victims", said Ambassador Jutta Stefan-Bastl, the representative of the Austrian Chairmanship of the OSCE. "The security of the individual will have to become a more visible part of the OSCE's comprehensive concept of security."
"Following years of tremendous increase in OSCE activities in the field of democracy and human rights, we now stand at a crossroads", said Ambassador Gerard Stoudmann, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR). "We have to ensure that the OSCE remains an organization that is able to address human rights and democratization issues in an effective and non-bureaucratic way." The ODIHR Director emphasised that human rights problems are not limited to countries of transition. "We will continue to look at human rights violations wherever and whenever they happen."
The Implementation Meeting is organized annually by the OSCE/ODIHR in co-operation with the OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office. The conference will cover the whole range of issues relating to the human dimension of the OSCE: human rights and fundamental freedoms, rule of law, democratization, and national minorities. Thirteen sessions, each introduced by renowned human rights experts, are scheduled to review the OSCE countries' record in such fields as trafficking in human beings, preventing torture, children's rights, minority rights, and the freedom of the media. A number of additional informal meetings will be held on the margins of the conference, including one on Roma refugees and asylum seekers. A detailed agenda and additional background information is available on the OSCE/ODIHR web site at www.osce.org/odihr.
For further information contact Jens-Hagen Eschenbächer, OSCE/ODIHR Public Affairs Officer at +48-22-5200600-4162 or +48-603683122 (mobile).