The 23rd annual conference to discuss human rights and democracy in OSCE participating states, the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM), kicked off in Warsaw on 16 September. The HDIM is Europe’s largest annual human rights and democracy conference, and, amongst others, an important forum for civil society voices to be heard at a time where democratic values are increasingly under threat.
“We need the conversations between states and civil society, and we need a platform to have them,” said Miroslav Lajčák, Foreign Minister of Slovakia and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, at the opening of the conference. “The Human Dimension Implementation Meeting is the place to be open, to be critical, but always respectful.”
Every year, the HDIM brings together more than 1,000 representatives of 57 governments of OSCE participating States, OSCE Partners for Co-operation, OSCE executive structures, international organisations and representatives of the civil society to discuss the implementation of the OSCE human dimension commitments. The aim of the meeting is also to share good practices and make recommendations for further improvement.
At the opening plenary, the velvet revolutions that swept Central Eastern Europe 30 years ago were commemorated. Lech Wałęsa, the Nobel prize-winning leader of the Polish Solidarity movement that helped bring about the transformations of 1989, said at the opening:
“It was because of this country’s pivotal role in the peaceful revolutions of 1989 that the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights was set up in Poland, and I am impressed at the work ODIHR has done since then in strengthening respect for human rights and the rule of law in so many countries. But the backsliding we are seeing in both the new democracies in the East and the established democracies of the West make clear that the struggle is not yet over.”
From 16 to 27 September, several key issues will be discussed and this year’s special focus topics are safety of journalists, hate crime, and the challenges facing Roma and Sinti across the OSCE.
On the agenda are also issues such as freedom of expression and the importance of a free media and information. Questions to be considered are for example what is the current state of freedom of expression and media freedom in the OSCE area and what is the role of civil society in media freedom advocacy?
Tolerance and non-discrimination as well as gender equality is also high on this year’s agenda with sessions on the freedom of peaceful assembly and association; freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief; the equal opportunity for women and men and violence against women. In addition, humanitarian issues like combating trafficking in human beings and the situation for refugees, displaced persons and persons at risk of displacement will be discussed.
Under-representation of people with disabilities in political and public life and examples of positive practice contributing to more inclusive parliaments, political parties and democratic institutions were discussed at a side event organised by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 16 September 2019 during the HDIM.
“Over the past few years, ODIHR has improved the inclusion of people with disabilities in its work. However, much more needs to be done within the OSCE as an organisation, as well as by participating States, to ensure equal participation of people with disabilities as full members of our societies,” said Tiina Kukkamaa-Bah, Chief of the ODIHR Democratic Governance and Gender Unit.
In 1992, the Helsinki Document mandated the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), as the main institution for the OSCE’s human dimension of security, to organise a meeting to review the implementation of human dimension commitments adopted by all OSCE participating States and to look at ways to enhance compliance with those commitments.
Since 1998, the HDIM has taken place annually for a two-week period in Warsaw (except for 1999 and 2010, due to the Istanbul and Astana Summits, which reviewed the implementation of these commitments in a different format respectively).
With 57 participating States in North America, Europe and Asia, the OSCE – the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe – is the world’s largest regional security organisation. It traces its origins to the early 1970s, to the Helsinki Final Act (1975) and the creation of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), which during the Cold War served as an important multilateral forum for dialogue and negotiation between East and West.
Today, the organisation is a forum for political dialogue on a wide range of security issues – including arms control, terrorism, energy security, human trafficking, democratization, media freedom and national minorities – and a platform for joint action to improve the lives of individuals and communities.
“The years following 1989 were a time of hope, and rightly so,” said Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, ODIHR Director, at the opening ceremony of the conference. “We have come so far in so many ways since then, but the challenges to human rights are growing, and we must overcome them in order to preserve our democracies and the values on which they are built. Those who are deliberately fuelling prejudice and hatred for the sake of short-term political gain cannot be allowed to polarize our societies any further.”