Human Rights, OSCE Style

I just finished attending a two-day conference on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights: Responsibilities and Effective Remedies. It was organized by the OSCE, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The conference's plenary sessions highlighted three devices for the promotion of human rights: national courts, civil society, and national human rights institutions.

It was held in this building, the Austrian National Library, which also houses the Vienna offices of the OSCE. The IHF held a side event today, solely on the defense of human rights defenders.

The situation for many working in the field is quite dangerous, and sadly it's only growing worse. NGOs are often forced to register with state authorities, and human rights defenders are sometimes barred from leaving the country. They can be harrassed, imprisoned, or even killed in some instances.

The conference was geared toward conversation, which was a nice contrast from meetings I had attended of the UN Human Rights Mechanisms in Geneva. Here the main voices were those of NGOs and civil society, as opposed to state representatives. Few people from Western Europe offered their perspectives, though, which meant the conversation centered mainly upon Central Aisa and the former Soviet Union.