THE OSCE CHALLENGED - NHC/IHF

PART VI: STATEMENTS
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open letter to osce chairman-in-office mr. jaap de hoop scheffer
A Summary of Views and Concerns

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From the outset it was clear that during the OSCE Ministerial Council the NGO representatives would not have free access to the official OSCE delegates, due to strict security measures. But, as it turned out, separation between the two meetings was almost total. Apart from the physical distance and the absence of signposts, no official delegate could have found the NGO-quarters, even if he or she would have had some spare time. At the close of the first day, in order to at least bridge the separation between the two meetings, the NGO meeting’s organizers took recourse to writing an open letter to the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, to voice their concern on issues such as impunity, trafficking and various human rights violations.
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December 1, 2003

Dear Mr. De Hoop Scheffer,

We join all our colleagues gathered in Maastricht in thanking your government for the encouragement and support to organize a civil society meeting on human rights issues in the OSCE region in the context of the OSCE Ministerial Council. We acknowledge with gratitude that this is a unique event in the history of the Helsinki process, one which should set a precedent for the future.
Today we have discussed general political tendencies in our region that threaten basic human rights and freedoms. We’d like to suggest that you would bring our concerns to the attention of the Ministerial Council.

Religious freedom is being restricted in numerous OSCE-participating states. Laws responding to the threat of terrorism have had a chilling effect on the freedom of conscience and religion. Like many other responses to terrorism, they can, in practice, actually threaten human security.

We insist that regulations created to combat trafficking in human beings be monitored by a system that will hold states accountable for implementation. This system must be capable of rendering independent research and analysis. Victims should be protected, not punished. We all should break down the gap between available legal instruments and actual practice. Otherwise this problem will continue to grow, and will undermine faith in the rule of law. The OSCE can do more to promote international and bi-lateral agreements toward this end—especially in the field of protecting victims, not only for humanitarian but also for law-enforcement reasons.

We have considered that gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law are taking place in some regions of the OSCE, and that hardly any perpetrators have been brought to justice. We insist that the OSCE has a role in promoting a peaceful settlement of conflicts, since it is an international organization committed to the principle that human rights violations are both matters of international concern and threats to international security.

We have focused on protecting basic civil and political rights in countries, so that citizens can solve their economic and social problems. But we have seen basic democratic principles challenged by the failure of some OSCE-participating states to hold free and fair elections. Legislative changes in a number of participating states are less compatible with OSCE commitments than the laws they replaced. Peaceful assembly is unduly restricted. The judiciary often is under executive control. Independent journalism is under attack—and we agree that the OSCE will be well-served by the appointment of a new Representative on the Freedom of the Media, one who will maintain a strong, independent voice.

We have renewed our commitment to solidarity among civil society structures committed to the common values upheld by the OSCE. In this, we seek to work on a cooperative basis with governments and OSCE institutions to promote compliance with the human dimension commitments.

Respectfully,

Ludmilla Alexeyeva, President of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
Jan Herman van Roijen, Chairman of the Netherlands Helsinki Committee

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