Addressing the security needs of Jewish communities the focus of OSCE/ODIHR events in Vienna

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), in co-operation with the OSCE Austrian Chairmanship, organized two separate meetings in Vienna on addressing the security needs of Jewish communities, on 6 and 7 July 2017.

The 6 July event brought together Austrian law-enforcement officials and Jewish community representatives to raise awareness of issues related to ensuring security for Jewish communities, to discuss co-operation between law-enforcement agencies and Jewish communities in Austria, and to identify challenges, opportunities and recommendations in relation to this co-operation for the future.

“Ensuring the safety of Jewish communities is the responsibility of governments. Today’s event allows us to discuss how government officials can confront the specific challenges posed by anti-Semitism and build robust partnerships with Jewish communities on matters of security,” said Ambassador Florian Raunig, Head of the Task Force for the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship.

On 7 July, on the margins of a meeting of the OSCE Human Dimension Committee, the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship, ODIHR and the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the OSCE held a side event on the ODIHR publication Understanding Anti-Semitic Hate Crime and Addressing the Security Needs of Jewish Communities – A Practical Guide.

The event provided an opportunity to present the Guide, which lists practical steps that governments, in co-operation with Jewish communities, can take to prevent and respond to anti-Semitic hate crimes and better address the security needs of these communities, as well as to discuss the security challenges that Jewish communities face and generate interest among OSCE participating States to customize and adopt the Guide to their domestic contexts. 

“Within the framework of the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to security, participating States have committed themselves to preventing and responding to all manifestations of intolerance, including anti-Semitism,” said Cristina Finch, Head of the ODIHR Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department. “This Guide is a very practical, hands-on tool that OSCE participating States can use as a roadmap for a thoughtful assessment of the security issues that Jewish and other communities face on a daily basis, as well for consideration of effective measures to address these issues.”