Margareta Cederfelt (right) speaks at the OSCE PA roundtable with civil society, Warsaw, 5 October 2022WARSAW, 6 October 2022 – Members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly are actively participating in the OSCE’s Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, which is taking place from 26 September to 7 October 2022. Yesterday, on the sidelines of the conference, the PA organized an open discussion on strengthening parliamentary partnerships with civil society for human rights.
OSCE PA President Margareta Cederfelt (Sweden) is leading the OSCE parliamentarians at the conference, a delegation that includes OSCE PA Vice-President and Chair of the OSCE PA Ad Hoc Committee on Migration Mark Pritchard (United Kingdom), Chair of the Assembly’s human rights committee Nikoloz Samkharadze (Georgia), and Special Representative on Civil Society Engagement Kyriakos Hadjiyianni (Cyprus), among others.
In the roundtable discussion yesterday, the OSCE PA Members took the opportunity to highlight to OSCE diplomats and civil society actors the primary recommendations in the human dimension stemming from the July 2022 Birmingham Declaration. Seeking input particularly from representatives of civil society, the event provided a platform for exchange of ideas and experiences on how to promote parliamentary co-operation with civil society at the OSCE PA, as well as in national parliaments of OSCE participating States.
In her opening remarks, President Cederfelt highlighted that the challenges facing the OSCE region are massive in scale, which requires a comprehensive response from the OSCE, including its parliamentary dimension. “As parliamentarians, we are in a fortunate position of being able to discuss issues at the political level and to contribute to political will to overcoming challenges,” she said. Parliaments and civil society actors are natural partners, she stressed.
The event was organized reflecting the priorities and work of the OSCE PA with regards to democracy, human rights and democracy questions, as well as having in mind the importance of strengthening dialogue between policymakers and civil society actors, particularly on human rights topics.
Attending the conference, OSCE PA Members also contributed to other events, including plenary sessions on rule of law and humanitarian issues, speaking on topics including the importance of ensuring human rights while combating terrorism and the crucial importance of maintaining an independent judiciary. (See videos of OSCE PA Members' contributions here and here.)
On the sidelines of the conference, the parliamentarians held a number of bilateral meetings, including with OSCE/ODIHR Director Matteo Mecacci, and diplomatic representatives from Ukraine.
The President expressed her appreciation to the Polish OSCE Chairmanship’s efforts to organize the Human Dimension Conference, but expressed regret that agreement had not been reached to hold the OSCE’s traditional Human Dimension Implementation Meeting.
