OSCE

• International Organisational Committee of the Parallel OSCE Civil Society Conference

  For immediate release

  OSCE Summit Fails to Deliver: A Wasted Opportunity to Strengthen the Human Dimension

  (Astana, 2 December)In the face of acute human rights challenges in the OSCE region, the organisers of the Parallel OSCE Civil Society Conference lamented OSCE participating states' failure to take steps to strengthen implementation of the organisation’s Human Dimension commitments. Regardless of difficulties plaguing Summit discussions around other issues, the Human Dimension should have been addressed through an Astana Framework for Action. The broad language in the Astana Commemorative Declaration is no substitute for a targeted, meaningful action plan committing participating States to concrete steps to strengthen implementation mechanisms in all three dimensions.

  Civil society representatives see the failure to produce an Astana Framework for Action as a wasted opportunity to reinforce commitment to the Helsinki Principles. "While the absence of a strong position on the implementation of the human dimension, on civil society participation and on mechanisms to respond to crises in the region is very disappointing, no Summit Document is better than a Summit Document which would have eroded the very founding principles of this institution,” says Sonia Zilberman of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, a member of the Organisational Committee. “Regardless of other dividing issues such as regional conflicts and security concerns, participating states should have shown their political will to address the human dimension through an Action Framework."

  The failure to adopt a forward looking Plan shows that States were not truly prepared to hold a Summit and reinvigorate the organisation. Many civil society organisations across the region have criticised the OSCE for approving the Chairmanship by a country with a weak human rights record and have been insisting that systematic, concrete reforms on human rights, including the release of a leading human rights activist, Evgeniy Zhovtis, should have been pre-conditions for the agreement on this Summit.

  On 29 November, over 150 civil society participants from across the OSCE region adopted the Parallel Civil Society Conference Outcome Document, which presents the OSCE and participating States with 70 recommendations on:

  • strengthening implementation of the Human Dimension commitments;
  • greater cooperation with civil society by OSCE mechanisms and functions;
  • more effective response mechanisms to political and humanitarian crises, and;
  • a greater focus on the severe situation of human rights in the post-Soviet region, especially in Central Asia.

  The lack of a strong human dimension-focused Framework for Action is especially regrettable given the situation in Central Asia and the unique role the OSCE plays as the only regional organisation that focuses on human rights and democracy. “Of course, we wanted a clear and strong commitment to the human dimension. It is disappointing that we leave Astana without definitive steps forward, especially for Kyrgyzstan,” said Tolekan Ismailova of the Human Rights Center “Citizens against Corruption” in Kyrgyzstan, a co-organiser of the Parallel Conference. “At the same time, however, we did get a unified civil society position which is a great achievement”, she concluded.

  The International Organisational Committee looks toward the 2011 Chairmanship of Lithuania to develop a strong framework for civil society engagement and a greater emphasis of the OSCE on the human dimension. The difficulties in reaching agreement at the international level point to the key role of civil society across the OSCE region in fostering and furthering cooperation among participating States. This very message is the essence of the Helsinki Process, which, 35 years ago, revealed to the world a novel notion that civil society participation in promoting principles of human rights and democracy is key to real security and stability in the region.

  For more information contact:

  • Freedom House, Vyacheslav Abramov (Russian, English): +7 727 2643513; or
  • Kazakhstan Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law, Roza Akylbekova (Russian): +7 701 713 6509; or
  • CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Sonia Zilberman (Russian, English): +7 705 327 53 78; or
  • Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, Yuri Dzhibladze ( Russian, English): +7-916-673-5153; or
  • Netherlands Helsinki Committee, Harry Hummel (English, Dutch): +31-70-392-6700; or
  • International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Sacha Koulaeva (English, French, Russian), +33 6 48059480; or