Resolution marks 25th anniversary of Helsinki Accords

WASHINGTON - Helsinki Commission Chairman Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) won passage of a resolution marking the 25th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act during the annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Parliamentary Assembly. The resolution recalled the importance of the Helsinki process in promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law within the 54 countries that participate in the OSCE.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was held July 6-10, in Bucharest, Romania, and included 249 parliamentarians from throughout the OSCE region. The resolution also highlights the critical role of human rights advocates, both historically and today, in pushing governments to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act. The resolution specifically recognized that some human rights defenders have been the target of retribution for their efforts to expose human rights abuses throughout Europe, while others have died as a result of their efforts to promote human rights.

"It is an honor to recognize the human rights defenders who serve to defend victims of human rights abuses only to become victims themselves, thanks to the willingness of some political leaders to look the other way in the face of blatant injustice," Rep. Smith said.

According to Mr. Smith, examples can be found in several OSCE countries of human rights advocates and attorneys, who are facing, or have faced, the problems described in the resolution. To illustrate this point, Mr. Smith described cases in Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan where human rights attorneys or members of non-governmental organizations have faced harassment, intimidation or violence as a result of their human rights activities and related criticism of their respective governments.

The resolution expresses the Parliamentary Assembly's concern "that human rights defenders, including human rights attorneys, who are engaged in promoting and defending human rights and fundamental freedoms in the OSCE region today have been the targets of detention, harassment, intimidation, specious legal obstacles and criminal prosecution and, in some instances, violence directed against them, and that human rights attorneys have been stripped of their licenses or threatened with disbarment."

The resolution also suggests that "OSCE participating States must take steps to ensure the safety of human rights defenders and to hold accountable persons who are responsible for threatening, harassing or otherwise harming human rights defenders on account of their efforts to promote and defend human rights and fundamental freedoms."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 30, 2000, No. 31, Vol. LXVIII

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