THE OSCE CHALLENGED - NHC/IHF

heading_white

mr. cees flinterman (?) (CHAIRPERSON):
“Where OSCE governments meet,
NGOs cannot be missed”

heading_white

The city of Maastricht in the Netherlands has been a stimulating and innovative meeting place for many international meetings. The 11^th Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council on December 1 and 2, 2003, has once again confirmed this. For the first time ever, the Ministerial Council Meeting was combined with a meeting of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the context of the parallel NGO conference on Human Rights in the OSCE Region. Representatives of NGOs from most OSCE-participating states had found their way to Maastricht. It was certainly a great privilege for me to have been invited to chair this parallel NGO conference.

The role of NGOs in urging governments to live up to their international and domestic human rights obligations is crucial. During the parallel NGO conference, three main themes of promotion and protection of human rights were extensively discussed: impunity, religious freedom and human trafficking. States have accepted the obligation—within the context of the United Nations, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe—to ensure that perpetrators of gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law are prosecuted, and, if found guilty, properly punished. Perpetrators of such heinous crimes should not be able to find a safe haven anywhere in this world. From that perspective, the Ad Hoc Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda were established, later followed by the Permanent International Criminal Court. Yet, it is a matter of great concern that in some OSCE states gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law are taking place without any action by the governments responsible to initiate criminal proceedings.

One of the classic human rights is freedom of religion. The world’s history, and in particular Europe’s, shows how strongly this precious freedom is fought for. It has been recognized in many international and regional human rights instruments, starting with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. National constitutions invariably include the right to freedom of religion in their Bills of Rights. Yet, it is an unmistakable fact that the freedom of religion continues to be a beleaguered freedom in many OSCE-participating states. This has been compounded by the rise of international terrorism. Quite often, priority is given to security at the expense of basic fundamental freedoms. Too little is it realized that the struggle against terrorism can be successful only if it is based on the recognition of the fundamental rights and freedoms of everyone, everywhere in the world.

A recent item on the human rights agenda of the international and OSCE community of states is the struggle against trafficking in human beings (women, girls, men and boys) for prostitution, slavery-like practices and other immoral and illegal practices around the world. Human trafficking is rightly seen as a human rights issue, as it constitutes a flagrant violation of the rights and liberties of the trafficked persons. From a human rights perspective, states are obliged to take action to stop such trafficking practices and to prosecute those perpetrating them. States are likewise obligated to assist the victims of trafficking and to help them build up a dignified existence. The above issues have been discussed in a thorough and creative manner by the parallel NGO conference; particular attention was given to the plight of victims of (gross) violations of human rights and to the corresponding obligations of states not only to end such violations, but also to prevent the occurrence of new violations.

The parallel NGO conference on Human Rights in the OSCE Region made it clear once again that where OSCE governments meet, NGOs cannot be missed. I do hope therefore that the combined meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council and the NGO conference in Maastricht will have set a precedent.

| page top