THE OSCE CHALLENGED - NHC/IHF

PART IV: PRESENTATION BOOKLET ‘HUMAN RIGHTS AND TERRORISM’
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mr. jan herman van roijen (netherlands helsinki committee):
“We hope NGOs will be involved
by the Bulgarian OSCE Chairmanship as well”

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Although Mr. Jan Herman van Roijen, Chairman of the Netherlands Helsinki Committee, deems it too early for a complete evaluation of the Netherlands OSCE Chairmanship, he mentions some of its characteristics on the occasion of his presenting a report on the seminar “Human Rights and Terrorism” (?) to Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, outgoing Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE.
As a first characteristic, Mr. Van Roijen mentions the close cooperation between the Chairmanship and NGOs, and he expresses his hope that the next Chairmanship will continue in this vein. Secondly, he argues that the Netherlands Chairmanship quite rightly paid attention not only to OSCE-participating states east of Vienna, but also to problems in Western Europe, such as minorities, media and human trafficking. Thirdly, Mr. Van Roijen comments on the Chairmanship’s concern to do justice to the special position of the Russian Federation within the OSCE. In this context, Mr. Van Roijen again advocates a new OSCE presence in Chechnya. To conclude, Mr. Van Roijen approves of the Chairmanship seeking a dialogue between the security community and the human rights community in order to address the issue of terrorism.
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Mr. Jan Herman van Roijen (Netherlands Helsinki Committee): “We continue to plead for a new OSCE presence in Chechnya.”

“On behalf of the Netherlands Helsinki Committee, which, in cooperation with the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights is responsible for this NGO meeting, I would like to extend a sincere and warm welcome to you.
In this context, I would also like to explicitly mention Ms. Ludmilla Alexeyeva, President of the International Helsinki Federation as well as Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group, and Mr. Aaron Rhodes, IHF Executive Director. Furthermore, my respect and thanks to Prof. Cees Flinterman, Chairman of our conference.

It is as yet too early to evaluate the Netherlands OSCE Chairmanship. Important developments are still in store for us today and tomorrow. But an important characteristic of the Netherlands Chairmanship of the OSCE has been and still is its close cooperation with NGOs.
The fact that this NGO meeting takes place simultaneously with the OSCE Ministerial Council is an absolute first. We are, Minister, grateful to you for the facilities you have extended to us, and we hope that the Bulgarian Chairmanship will include NGOs in the same intensive fashion in its important and sometimes difficult future endeavours.

A second characteristic of the Netherlands Chairmanship is the fact that it did not only wish to focus its attention on problems east of Vienna. West of Vienna there are also issues, for instance:

with minorities; particularly new minorities;
with concerns about monopolization of the media; and
with the alarming rate of human trafficking.

The Netherlands Chairmanship has given these questions a higher profile during the previous year.

A third characteristic of the Netherlands Chairmanship has been your concern to do justice to the special position of the Russian Federation within the OSCE. You hoped that Russia, amongst other possible undertakings, would cooperate towards peaceful conflict-resolution in Chechnya and in some other parts of the former Soviet Union. In various declarations, the International Helsinki Federation and the Netherlands Helsinki Committee have advocated a new OSCE presence in Chechnya. We intend to maintain this point of view during the Bulgarian OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office.

A fourth characteristic of the Netherlands Chairmanship was your striving, with regard to the very serious problem of terrorism, to seek a dialogue between the security community and the human rights community. This matter has attained new actuality within the OSCE because of the recent outrageous terrorist assaults in Istanbul.
Your striving, as described, became plainly visible in the seminar ‘Human Rights and Terrorism’ that the Netherlands Helsinki Committee organized in The Hague on September 18^th, 2003, with full support of the Netherlands Government.
As OSCE Chairman-in-Office you opened this seminar with a significant speech.

It is, therefore, an honour that I may now present to you, in printed form, the report on this seminar. In it all speeches, the texts of interventions and the final declaration are included.
This booklet maybe regarded as a lasting symbol of your wish not to let the combating of terrorism occur at the cost of the maintenance of human rights and also as a concrete manifestation of your willingness to cooperate in essential matters with NGOs.

At the very beginning of next year, you will, Minister, undergo a transfiguration. You will then be Secretary General of the largest collective defence-organization in the whole world, NATO. The Netherlands Helsinki Committee and the International Helsinki Federation congratulate you with your appointment in this pivotal function and express the hope that you will in future years promote the dialogue between NATO and the human rights community.

It is an honour for me to present the booklet on our seminar on Human Rights and Terrorism to the Netherlands Foreign Minister.”

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