OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Kurz receives civil society recommendations ahead of Vienna Ministerial Council

VIENNA, 6 December 2017 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz today received civil society’s recommendations to the OSCE executive structures and participating States, on the eve of the 24th OSCE Ministerial Council. The recommendations were adopted by more than 100 NGO representatives who met during the Parallel Civil Society Conference, which was organized by the Civic Solidarity Platform, a coalition of NGOs from across the OSCE region, in Vienna on 5 and 6 December.

The participants also adopted a “Vienna Declaration” calling on OSCE executive structures and participating States to work to ensure that security measures and concerns do not eclipse the respect for human rights.

“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.”

Corallina Lopez Curzi, Programme Co-ordinator at the Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights (CILD), who presented the recommendations to Kurz, said: "Civil society is needed more than ever to safeguard the effectiveness, credibility and very 'raison d'etre' of the OSCE. The OSCE’s Human Dimension is at the core of the answer to peace and security, rather than an obstacle."

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; 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.

The Parallel Civil Society Conference has been held each year on the margins of the OSCE Ministerial Council meetings since 2010. This year it was held with the support of the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship.

The 24th OSCE Ministerial Council will take place at the Hofburg, Vienna on 7 and 8 December 2017, gathering foreign ministers and senior diplomats from the OSCE’s 57 participating States and 11 Partners for Co-operation.