Hugh Williamson, HRW director of Europe & Central Asia
Thank you for the invitation to speak.
In recent weeks I have had the privilege of meeting courageous human rights defenders and journalists from across the OSCE region, in Türkiye, UK, Central Asia and in Germany, where I live.
We talked about the best ways of standing up for refugee rights, ending torture and the jailing of political activists, improving environmental rights and tackling domestic violence against women and girls.
Among these conversations, one stands out. I was having lunch with a journalist who was describing how tough his job was in the face of heavy censorship and pressure from the authorities. He said it was getting more difficult, and dangerous, to do his work,
Then he added – “all we can think about right now, is how to survive”.
This really struck me. Is there nothing more we can do than survive?
At the beginning of this conference, I urge everyone to lift their sights and be in solidarity with this journalist. Who of course could also be an LGBT rights activist. Or an anti-racism campaigner. Or a defender of other human rights.
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act it should simply not be the case that surviving is the goal.
We have to be ambitious, to aim for building a region where the protection of human rights is the norm, not the exception. That, after all, is why we are here.
To do this, we need three things. We need strong civil society. We need strong political will from participating states, also to hold each other accountable. And we need strong OSCE structures to help bring rights protection to life.
We should not be naïve, of course that change is easy to achieve. The context for tackling human rights abuse was already complex before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now it is much more so.
Russia commits grave violations of international humanitarian law on a regular basis in Ukraine.
The Kremin’s pressure on critical voices inside Russia has never been fiercer in the post-Soviet era.
In Central Asia, Belarus and Azerbaijan abuses of fundamental rights are widespread and in some areas escalating, under the authoritarian governments there. These governments, and Russia, also practice transnational repression, endangering their citizens residing in other parts of the OSCE region.
In recent years in countries such as France, Greece, Hungary, the UK and Poland we have seen varying degrees of undermining of democratic institutions and human rights by governing parties. These include the outright defiance of human rights and undermining of the rule of law in Hungary and under the Law and Justice Party government in Poland. And in western Europe, subtler but pernicious restrictions on civil society, and steps to frustrate independent media or bypass parliamentary scrutiny. These efforts have one thing in common: they chip away at checks and balances on executive power and in turn put human rights at risk.
There are positive signals. During my travels I heard in Uzbekistan from women working to make a new law against domestic violence a reality that really helps survivors. In Türkiye I heard of efforts by families of the victims of last year’s devastating earthquake to secure accountability for the deaths of their loved ones by pressing for the prosecution of both private contractors and public officials who failed to enforce building standards. And in UK I heard of the new government’s renewed commitment to international bodies such as the OSCE and the Council of Europe.
There are signals within OSCE too, such as through ODIHR’s activities. The range of its impressive work just in recent months includes support for Ukrainian defence lawyers on strengthening rule of law in the country, the gathering of advice from an expert panel on disability rights, with most of the panel made up of people with disabilities, and projects on hate crimes where the voices of victims are heard loud and clear.
So how can we address these challenges and build on the positive signals?
As I mentioned, first we need strong civil society.
We have discussed many times how space for civil society is closing. Let’s take practical steps to ensure that opening of this space becomes the norm. Let us oppose bills adopted this year in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, so called “foreign agents” laws that have nothing to do with transparency and everything to do with demonizing and marginalizing independent civic activism. The OSCE should lead on seeking compliance with legal standards that foster free expression and civic space, where any regulation of civic groups is limited to what is necessary, proportionate and narrowly drawn.
Human rights defenders have much expertise and experience to offer. States throughout the OSCE space should make the most of this to establish mechanisms to defend defenders. When they need protection, also in their work online, let’s make this as practical and swift as possible.
In the OSCE context, support for the essential work by the Civic Solidary Platform is crucial. Lets embrace its important Helsinki plus 50 initiative looking at the challenges the OSCE faces.
Second, we need stronger political will from participating states. It is important when states commit to treating human rights protection not as a nice-to-have but as a core part of wider policies. The tough part is acting on these commitments.
We see how tough this is for instance in Europe on the issue of migration. Navigating social and political pressures is hard but upholding the right to asylum within European countries and respecting the rights of migrants must be the bedrock of these policy choices.
Protecting human rights is in the self-interest of governments. To protect human rights is to build a strong society, that is more secure, in every sense, and more open for business. Predictable, fair laws and independent courts attract local and foreign investors.
Participating states can also show political will by using the OSCE instruments at their disposal more fully. The Moscow Mechanism is a good example. We welcome the recent investigations they have undertaken into grave abuses by Russia and Belarus. But there have been situations where the attention of states would have been important, such as the crushing of protests in 2022 in Kazakhstan, costing 238 lives and in Uzbekistan costing 21 lives. Or the Azerbaijani government’s spree of arrests of activists, media professionals and government critics in recent months. We encourage states to be determined and principled when such crises arise.
Third, we need a strong OSCE to reinforce human rights protection in our region. The current crisis in the OSCE makes the human dimension more important. The connection between human rights and security is fundamental. OSCE states should draw lessons, that their earlier failures to address unrelenting repression by some governments can have profound international consequences, including for their own security.
Now is the time to build resilience for the future. It is crucial that the work of ODIHR, of the Representative on Freedom of the Media and of the High Commissioner on National Minorities return to full strength. Let’s remember that these are structures that states themselves decided to establish.
We are pleased the current and next chair in office are determined to show how the commitments under the human dimension can improve the lives of ordinary people. We urge them to reinforce all opportunities for engaging with civil society in this process.
Even during this difficult period it is necessary for the OSCE to show its worth, through the vital work of its election observers, legal advisors, trainers, human rights experts and many others.
As I conclude I can’t help thinking again about the journalist I met on my travels. We are failing him if we accept that ‘surviving’s is all we can aim for. And we are failing our societies. Let us take these steps to show we can be more ambitious.
Thank you.
