Building and strengthening civil society cooperation

The Civic Solidarity Platform (CSP), a network of more than 90 human rights NGOs from throughout the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), convened the 2017 OSCE Parallel Civil Society Conference in Vienna on 5-6 December - building upon the tradition of OSCE parallel civil society conferences in Astana in 2010, Vilnius in 2011, Dublin in 2012, Kiev in 2013, Basel in 2014, Belgrade in 2015, and Hamburg in 2016. The network is committed to bringing together civil society actors to actively engage in the work of the OSCE in the spirit of the Helsinki Principles and to contribute to the full realisation of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law throughout the OSCE region.

At the conference, activists and experts from Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Denmark, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the USA engaged in discussion and defined strategies for strengthening civil society cooperation within and without the OSCE.

Putting forward concrete recommendations

The conference also adopted, as every year, a set of Outcome Documents of the conference: the Vienna Declaration “Preventing security measures from eclipsing human rights and the rule of law” and Civil Society Recommendations to Participants of the Ministerial Council Meeting in Vienna. These documents were then presented and symbolically handed over by delegates of the CSP - Melissa Hooper from Human Rights First and Corallina Lopez Curzi from the Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights - to representative of OSCE institutions and political bodies, including the outgoing and ingoing Austrian and Italian chairmanship.

The Vienna Declaration is focused on preventing security measures from eclipsing human rights and the rule of law, highlighting how human rights are the core of the answer rather than an obstacle to addressing terrorism. The Declaration expresses great concerns over how authorities across the OSCE region have been introducing measures that limit human rights in the context of the fight against terrorism, using conflict as a pretext (including by he use of prolonged "states of emergency" to avoid accepted human rights safeguards); it then calls over to OSCE participating states, institutions and political bodies to prioritize safeguarding human rights while combatting terrorism.

The Recommendations addressed a variety of pressing issues, from the broad question of shrinking space for civil society to the specific situation in Donbas:

• The first set of recommendations indeed reiterates concerns raised in the 2016 Hamburg Declaration on Protecting and Expanding Civil Society Space regarding the rapidly diminishing possibilities for civic participation in public policy matters across the OSCE region, calling out to: OSCE Chairmanships to prioritize the protection of civil society space and the security of human rights defenders and consider appointing a Special Representative on Civil Society; OSCE political bodies and institutions to develop a system of prompt reaction to cases of persecution of NGOs and civil society activists; ODIHR to restore its focal point for human rights defenders; OSCE participating States to implement the OSCE/ODIHR Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders;
• The second set of recommendations freedom of expression, which is seen as one of utmost concerns. Throughout 2017, CSP members were indeed particularly concerned by the impact on freedom of expression of states’ counter terrorism initiatives, by the growing restrictions to freedom of expression online and violence against journalists. CSP thus recommend the implementation of the Joint Declarations issued by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media together with the three other international rapporteurs, as well as those delineated in the CSP 2015 Belgrade Declaration. In particular, it asks: ODIHR and the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media to develop a set of recommendations with the aim of protecting freedom of expression and media freedoms in the context of combating terrorism and violent extremism; participating states to recommit to guarantee safe conditions for journalists, bloggers, whistle-blowers and others exercising the right to freedom of expression and ensure accountability for all attacks on those subjects;
• The third set of recommendations pertained to the critical issue of migration and related xenophobia. A number of participating states adopted and enforced new anti-migration policy measures, and in others immigration and integration policies remain blatantly inadequate. Xenophobia and discrimination are growing throughout the OSCE region, with the rise of far-right populist parties with strong anti-migrant messages and the increase of hate speech and hate crimes against migrants and refugees. The fact that the incoming Italian Chairmanship has declared migration as one of its thematic priorities gives hope that specific efforts in this field will get a new impetus in 2018. CSP thus reiterate the earlier recommendations contained in the CSP Basel Declaration, which, amongst other things, asked: OSCE political bodies to develop a comprehensive OSCE action plan to combat racism, xenophobia, discrimination on all grounds, hate crimes and other forms of intolerance; ODIHR to develop comprehensive guidelines for participating States on addressing racism, xenophobia, discrimination on all grounds, hate crimes and other forms of intolerance through education and youth policies; OSCE-participating states to ensure, without exception, the international protection of refugees as set out in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol;
• The fourth set of recommendations pertained to human rights in context of conflicts. The CSP here noted, amongst other things, how the protection of civil society space should be treated as a matter of conflict prevention - thus asking OSCE actors to consider repressive legislative and policy changes affecting civil society space as early warning signs of a human dimension crisis which may lead to destabilisation and the development of a conflict situation;
• The fifth set of recommendations concerned torture and enforced disappearances, which continued to be among the worst human rights violations in many OSCE-participating states throughout 2017 - with extremely low prosecution rates alimenting an atmosphere of impunity. Furthermore, governments increasingly justify using torture and ill-treatment by referring to security concerns in the context of measures to prevent terrorism. In Ministerial Council Meetings in Basel, Belgrade and Hamburg, participating states have failed to adopt a decision on combating torture. The CSP thus asked that incoming OSCE Chairmanships of Italy and Slovakia should ensure that torture prevention is an OSCE priority, possibly adopting a decision during Milan Ministerial Council in 2018. Specific attention was also required on the issue of access to justice for victims of enforced disappearances.
• Further recommendations were issued with regard to the need to take into account gender implications for OSCE activities, the importance of strengthening the OSCE work in the human dimension, and the need for urgent action with regard to the Donbas conflict.

The presentation of the recommendations

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz received civil society’s recommendations to the OSCE executive structures and participating states, on the eve of the 24th OSCE Ministerial Council.

“I thank the Civic Solidarity Platform for their tireless efforts and their good co-operation during our Chairmanship,” said Kurz as he received the recommendations. “I am very pleased that the declaration of the Civic Solidarity Platform focuses on the topic of countering radicalization and terrorism while fully respecting human rights and the rule of law. Your assessment and call to the OSCE participating States to ensure that such counter-terrorism or anti-extremism measures are not misused as a pretext to clamp down on independent or critical voices is essential.”

Joining the OSCE chairperson-in-office at the closing session of the conference were also Co-ordinator of Italy’s OSCE Chairmanship 2018 at the Italian Foreign Ministry, Alessandro Cortese; deputy head of the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the OSCE, Heinrich Haupt; the OSCE secretary general, Thomas Greminger; the director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir; and the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, Harlem Désir.