Swiss OSCE Chairmanship concludes series of four regional civil society workshops with a two-day event in Tbilisi

Some 40 representatives from regional civil society organizations of the South Caucasus and international NGOs took part in a discussion in Tbilisi on 3 and 4 September 2014, organized jointly by the 2014 Swiss OSCE Chairmanship and the Georgian NGO Analytical Center for Interethnic Cooperation and Consultations. The focus of the event was on the prevention of torture, the independence of the judiciary, and the institutional and legal framework to combat discrimination.

“This workshop is the fourth regional civil society workshop and is the contribution of the Swiss Chairmanship of the OSCE to strengthen the civil society in the OSCE space,” stated Ambassador Günther Bächler in his welcoming address, and presented the three topics of the workshop as being “crucial for this region in transformation, between Europe and Asia”.

Yuri Dzhibladze, member of the Co-ordinating Council of the Civic Solidarity Platform, an OSCE-wide network of NGOs, underlined that “many problems in the OSCE region need to be addressed and the concrete recommendations elaborated at this workshop will be useful to instigate activities in this aim.”

Kakha Kozhoridze, President of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, emphasized in his opening remarks: “Protection of human rights is our daily work and daily fight. Foreign partners, such as Switzerland, are doing their best to support us in our nation-building process.”

Agit Mirzoev, Executive Director of the Analytical Center for Interethnic Cooperation and Consultations, thanked all participants for their intensive and engaged discussions, and their concentrated work over the last two days. “Recommendations which we formulated during the workshop will pave the way for the further work in improvement of the implementation of the human dimension commitments,” he added.

The event in Tbilisi was the concluding workshop in a series of four regional civil society conferences held in Belgrade, Vienna, and Dushanbe. The outcomes of the workshops will translate into recommendations for the Civil Society Conference to take place on the margins of the Ministerial Council in Basel in December 2014.  Under the leitmotiv: “Creating a Security Community for the benefit of everyone,” the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship has engaged in a dialogue with civil society to steer the implementation OSCE commitments to improve people’s lives.