Implementation by the OSCE participating States of their human dimension commitments
Authors: Kardash Olena 
Published: August 2023

Introduction. On the 29th Annual Session of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly the delegates of the OSCE participating States issued Birmingham Declaration and, as part of it, the Resolution “On the Importance of the Human Dimension in the Context of Current Threats tothe Security in the OSCE Area Stemming from the Russian Aggression Against Ukraine”, where by they underlined “the importance of OSCE commitments, in particular those undertaken within the Human Dimension, that constitute firm political declarations of the participating States to fulfil, respect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms ”and urged the participating States to implement those commitments. The aim of the article is to examine the main characteristics of the human dimension commitments and current approaches to their implementation.

Results. This article provides a summary of the key characteristics of the OSCE human dimension commitments, focusing on their sources (CSCE and OSCE documents), process of adoption, nature of commitments, absence of sanctions for noncompliance, and lack of systematic verification of their implementation. The articlerefers to a precedent-setting suspension of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from the CSCE/OSCE “in view of clear, gross and uncorrected violations of CSCE commitments” in response to the growing crisis in Balkans. With reference to the unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine, and noting the OSCE’s position that, unlike the Council of Europe or other international organizations, the Organization does not have an effective mechanism for suspension or exclusion of its participating State for gross violation of the OSCE commitments and principles, the article highlights a need to review and transform current procedures and improve mechanisms to ensure implementation of the human dimension commitments.

Conclusions. Although the OSCE human dimension commitments have beenre-affirmed by the participating States on numerous occasions, the challenge that is being faced by the OSCE, and which has become even more evident throughout 2022,one example of which may be the blocking of the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting by Russia and Belarus, is that the divergence between the participating States around the implementation of the OSCE human dimension commitments will onlyincrease. This will call for the development of new approaches to eliminate such divergence. The article concludes with a view that it is necessary to reassess the main institutional foundations of the OSCE’s work with the aim to increase effectiveness of the monitoring and verification of the implementation of the human dimension commitments, particularly as concerns respect for human rights.

Key words: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE),Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, CSCE, human dimension,human rights, Helsinki Final Act 1975, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, principles of international law, principle of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.