THE OSCE CHALLENGED - NHC/IHF

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ngo conference on human rights in the osce region,
parallel to the 11^th meeting of the osce ministerial council.
Maastricht, December 1- 2, 2003

THE OSCE CHALLENGED

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The OSCE is being challenged both from the outside and from within.
From the outset, the world's biggest regional security organization aimed to balance three interconnected aspects of security: the politico-military, the economic/environmental, and the human rights aspects. However, opinion differs as to what constitutes a proper balance.

Authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia argue that OSCE activities put too much emphasis on the human dimension; they view the OSCE’s activities as meddling in their internal affairs. Others however, NGOs especially, are rather exasperated by the organization’s inability to stop gross violations of human rights in the OSCE area, its political clout being constrained by what is called “the iron law of consensus.”

That is why criticism, both of the OSCE itself and of participating states, figured prominently in the 11^th Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council and the parallel NGO conference on Human Rights in the OSCE Region in Maastricht on December 1 and 2, 2003. Individuals and states committing gross human rights violations without repercussions, impunity for short, played a large part in Maastricht, either directly or indirectly. Progress was of course made as well, on subjects where the OSCE’s role is uncontested, such as trafficking in human beings and improving the situation of Roma and Sinti.

Combining an OSCE Ministerial Council and an NGO conference was an absolute first. Though every first time is special, it is often not completely satisfactory; due to strict security measures and various logistical reasons, OSCE delegates and NGOs made hardly any contact at all in Maastricht.
That is one of the reasons why the NGO conference’s organizers, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and The Netherlands Helsinki Committee (NHC) have published this report on the NGO conference; they welcome the Netherlands Chairmanship’s recognition of the important role NGO may play in the OSCE’s activities, and they hope that this publication will contribute to similar conferences being organized in the future.

February 2004

Initiative and coordination: Netherlands Helsinki Committee (Mr. Jan ter Laak, Ms. Anne Offermans) and the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (Lamija Muzurovic)
Organization seminar: BBO, The Hague (Ms. Wil van Dalen, Ms. Karen Mol)
With support from the Netherlands OSCE Chairmanship (Mr. Willem Veenstra, especially)

Publication of:
The Netherlands Helsinki Committee
P.O. Box 93132
NL 2509 AC The Hague
The Netherlands
Telephone +31 70 3926700
E-mail: office@nhc.nl
www.nhc.nl

International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
Wickenburggasse 14/7
A-1080 Vienna
Austria
Telephone +43-1-408 88 22
E-mail: office@ihf-hr.org
www.ihf-hr.org

Compilation and editing: Tammo Hoeksema (Tammo Tekst & Tips, Utrecht), Jan ter Laak (NHC), Lamija Muzurovic (IHF)
English revision: Trador, Wijk bij Duurstede
Photography: ANP, The Hague, Jos Kösters, Ulrich Fischer
Lay-out: Ernst de Jonge BNO, Vlaardingen
Print: Drukzaken, Rotterdam

ISBN 90-807745-4-5

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©2004 NHC/IHF
No part of this material protected by copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright owner.

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