Poor state compliance with OSCE commitments remains serious challenge, says Organization's human rights chief

VIENNA, 12 June 2008 - Serious challenges to the implementation of OSCE human rights commitments remain in many parts of the region, said Ambassador Christian Strohal, the director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

"In the face of these persistent and new challenges, and the uneven response to them, some want to conclude that the OSCE is in a crisis," Strohal said in his last address to the OSCE's Permanent Council.

"I believe that the opposite is the case. In times when some participating States fail to meet their commitments, it is the OSCE and its institutions like the ODIHR which are best suited to identify shortcomings and offer assistance to states in remedying lack of implementation."

Ambassador Strohal's tenure as ODIHR director ends on 30 June after more than five years in office. He will be replaced by Janez Lenarcic of Slovenia.

Systematic election fraud, restrictions on freedom of assembly and of association, and increasing threats to human rights defenders are problems in parts of the region, added Strohal. He also highlighted the abuse of the fight against terrorism as pretence to curtail fundamental freedoms, restrictions imposed on independent media and inadequate attention to prevent torture.

"Migration and displacement create new challenges for governments and societies as a whole, as do crimes resulting from aggressive nationalism, racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, and the lack of tangible progress in improving the situation of Roma and Sinti throughout the OSCE region," said Strohal.

He expressed regret that ODIHR was unable to observe the Russian Duma elections last December and the Russian presidential election in March. He termed the ensuing controversy over the ODIHR's election observation methodology "largely an artificial debate created to distract from the sometimes uncomfortable truths reported by the OSCE observers."

"There is no crisis of election observation. What we do have is a crisis of compliance with election standards in some countries," the ODIHR director said.

Strohal called on the governments of all 56 OSCE participating States to fully assume their responsibility to implement, in a collective effort, the agreed commitments, emphasizing that no state has reasons to be complacent.

He identified two overarching issues in need of attention - promoting the rule of law, including international law and standards, and strengthening partnerships with civil society in an effort to renew the spirit of the Helsinki movement created with the signing of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act three decades ago.