Human rights and fundamental freedoms: joint statement to the OSCE Ministerial Council 2025
Source: gov.uk (2025-12-05)

The UK joins 38 other participating States in recalling that ensuring respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is a prerequisite for lasting security and peace among and within States.

I have the honour of delivering this statement on behalf of the following 39 participating states:

Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and my own country Denmark.

2025 marks fifty years since the signing of the Helsinki Final Act that enshrined the understanding that peace and security in Europe are inseparable from respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law. With it, participating states committed to the understanding that the protection of human rights and human dignity is a matter of legitimate international concern. Accountability for violations, respect for human rights, and democracy are indispensable foundations for lasting peace, security and stability in our region and it is our shared responsibility to uphold these commitments individually and hold each other accountable collectively.

Fifty years on, the actions taken by the governments of certain participating States - whether against fellow participating States or their own people - threaten to erode this foundation. These include the loud, brutal violations of human rights, and the quieter, incremental erosion of the fundamental freedoms that safeguard them, thereby paving the way for repression.

Russia’s ongoing illegal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine, enabled by the Lukashenka regime in Belarus and other third countries, continues to have a devastating human cost and to be marked by violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law - most recently documented in the 7th Interim Report of ODIHR’s Ukraine Monitoring Initiative and the Moscow Mechanism report on the Russian Federation’s treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war. The Moscow Mechanism report found that the Russian Federation has engaged in widespread and systematic violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, notably in its treatment of Ukrainian POWs, and that these violations may constitute war crimes and, in some cases, arguably, crimes against humanity.

This takes place against a background of further intensifying domestic repression. A clear link remains between Russia’s domestic repression and its threats to international peace and security. We remain determined to ensure full accountability for war crimes and other serious violations committed in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as to ensure victims’ rights to justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition.

In Belarus, while we take note of the release of some political prisoners, the regime’s systematic repression and human rights violations committed against civil society, including those advocating for peaceful democratic change, persists. An estimated 1,218 political prisoners are still behind bars and new arrests are still being made. Credible sources report of large-scale torture and ill-treatment, including incommunicado detention. In Georgia, the lack of investigation of reports of excessive use of force against those exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression reflects the shrinking civic space for dissent and creates a dangerous atmosphere of impunity. In Serbia, police raids against civil society organisations, repeated incidents of violence surrounding the ongoing protests as well verbal attacks from leading politicians against media, academia and peaceful protestors contribute to a shrinking democratic space. We are deeply worried about this deliberate undermining of human rights and fundamental freedoms, which is too often enabled by measures under the guise of legality and accompanied by steps to undermine free media and civil society.

In Georgia, legislative restrictions on civil society and media independence threaten to suffocate public dissent. In the case of Azerbaijan, there have been positive steps towards peace with Armenia. However, severe local restrictions on civil society and independent media continue to cause deep concern. And in Turkmenistan, the lack of information about historic cases of enforced disappearances and intimidation continues to raise deep concern. Across the OSCE region, the space for civil society and independent media is shrinking and journalists and other media actors face pressure and intimidation offline and online. Peaceful protesters, human rights defenders, journalists, and media actors too often face national and transnational repression, threats, and violence. This gradual corrosion, often less visible, risks normalising repression and hollowing out democratic institutions.

Whether loud and aggressive or creeping and quiet, these human rights violations stem from the same disregard for our shared commitments and require a decisive response to defend human dignity, justice, and accountability across the OSCE region. We strongly condemn all violations of international law including international humanitarian law and all violations and abuses of human rights. We continue to demand accountability, including for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

Chair,

Civil society plays a vital role in advocating and promoting human rights and to monitor the commitments under the human dimension. We pay tribute to the individuals and civil society organisations that work tirelessly, often at great personal risk to their livelihoods and even their lives, to defend democracy, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms.

To this end, we highly value the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) as an important platform for participating states and civil society to assess the implementation of OSCE commitments in the human dimension and discuss how to improve it. We welcome this year’s successful Warsaw Human Dimension Conference as proof of the format as a credible valuable alternative, however, the ongoing obstruction of the HDIM is unacceptable. We emphasise the necessity of holding it next year as mandated and we will support the 2026 Chair in these efforts.

We commend the OSCE autonomous institutions for their vital role in promoting human dimension commitments. Their autonomy and dedication are indispensable for advancing democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. In this regard, we reaffirm our full support for ODIHR’s independent election monitoring as a valuable tool for safeguarding electoral integrity and the promotion of democratisation and respect for human rights across our region and we call on all participating States to honour their commitments in this regard.

Chair,

We will continue to speak out when human rights, fundamental freedoms and democratic principles are violated. We will continue to promote and advocate for the full enjoyment of human rights by all women and girls and we will work for gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights. We will continue to promote and protect freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief. We will press for the release of all arbitrarily detained, the prevention and eradication of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and seek accountability for all human rights violations and abuses, including hate crimes offline or online enabled by digital technologies. We will continue to promote tolerance, challenge stereotypes and prejudice, combat misinformation and disinformation, and promote an inclusive world where no individual is left behind or subjected to violence and discrimination on the basis of who they are, whom they love, what they look like, or what they believe. We will continue to hold participating States to account when they fail to meet their commitments, including in regard to democracy and elections.

Fifty years ago, the Helsinki Final Act categorically declared that respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is a matter of direct and legitimate concern to all and do not belong exclusively to the internal affairs of the State concerned. This principle remains as vital today, and we will continue to work for the full implementation of OSCE principles and commitments.

In closing, we thank the OSCE Chairpersonship and the chair of the Human Dimension Committee as well as the autonomous institutions for their tireless work to strengthen the Human Dimension in these challenging times.

Thank you.