OSCE/ODIHR Director and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights sign declaration on enhancing co-operation in human dimension
GENEVA, 12 June 2014 – Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, agreed to enhance co-operation between their institutions in a joint declaration signed in Geneva today.
The declaration lays the grounds for greater combined work by ODIHR and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the promotion and protection of human rights, democracy, the rule of law, tolerance and non-discrimination, and gender equality.
“Today we are not just formalizing what has been excellent and productive co-operation between ODIHR and the OHCHR,” Lenarčič said. “Our institutions are also committing themselves to expand this co-operation in advancing and assuring the protection of the human rights of all in the OSCE region.”
The document covers co-operation in a broad range of activities, including monitoring, advocacy and training, the preparation of legal reviews and in assisting governments of OSCE participating States in the implementation of OSCE human dimension commitments and recommendations made by international human rights mechanisms.
“The OSCE is a key partner in Europe, North America and Central Asia, and the work of our two organizations is in many ways profoundly complementary,” Pillay said. “When both our organizations are pulling in the same direction, we can amplify our impact.”
Today’s declaration builds on previous agreements between the OSCE and the United Nations, including a framework for co-operation and co-ordination signed in 1993, as well as on OSCE commitments to enhance co-operation with other international organizations and institutions and on resolutions of the United Nations Human Rights Council that reaffirm the important role of regional arrangements, such as the OSCE, in the area of promoting and protecting human rights.