Jenoff Van Hulle

This year the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE http://www.osce.org) celebrates the 30th anniversary of its basic treaty, the Helsinki Final Declaration. Jenoff van Hulle writes of a recent Humanist initiative at the OSCE.

The OSCE was created as a security organization. The context of that time explains the considerations of its founding fathers. The Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Although the two superpowers managed to step back from the edge of catastrophe, the stakes were too high to risk a repeat, and the idea of détente - the gradual easing of tensions between East and West - soon gained ground.

However, the OSCE does not deal exclusively with military security, disarmament and border issues. The OSCE considers security to be more than merely the absence of war and, based on this broad concept of security, it deals equally with human rights. It was the intention of the OSCE participating States to create a comprehensive framework for peace and stability in Europe. The Helsinki Final Act acknowledges as one of its 10 guiding principles the "respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief". This constitutes a milestone in the history of human rights protection. For the first time, human rights principles were included as an explicit and integral element of a regional security framework on the same basis as politico-military and economic issues. This acknowledgement has been reinforced by numerous follow-up documents. It is therefore now well established and beyond question.

There is no hierarchy among these principles, and no government can claim they have to establish political or economic security before addressing human rights and democracy. According to the OSCE a free society allowing everyone to fully participate in public life is a safeguard against conflict and instability.

In OSCE terminology, human dimension is used to describe the set of norms and activities related to human rights and democracy. The term also indicates that the OSCE norms in this field cover a wider area than traditional human rights law.

To assist participating States with the implementation of human dimension commitments, the OSCE has established a number of permanent institutions. One of them, the most important, is the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, (ODIHR) in Warsaw. The 1992 Helsinki Document set the ODIHR's mandate to help OSCE participating States "ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, to abide by the rule of law, to promote principles of democracy and ... to build, strengthen and protect democratic institutions, as well as to promote tolerance throughout society".

In order to structure its human dimension activities, the ODIHR organizes regular meetings that take stock of OSCE human dimension commitments and recommends follow-up. The last meeting, called Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, took place in Warsaw from 19th till 30th September. A big Humanist delegation was present: Suzy Mommaerts (Unie Vrijzinnige Verenigingen, Belgium and Treasurer, European Humanist Federation), Vera Pegna (Unione degli Atei ei Agnostici Razionalisti, Italy and Vice-President, European Humanist Federation), Julien Houben (Unione degli Atei ei Agnostici Razionalisti, Italy), Adam Cioch (Fakty i Mity, Poland and International Relations Officer, European Humanist Federation). It was our mission to speak with representatives of ODIHR about the resolution, adopted in 1989 at the Vienna conference, by the participating States of the OSCE, that called on States to take effective measures to guarantee the individual freedom of religion and eliminate all forms of discrimination between believers and non- believers. To emphasise this commitment, the European Humanist Federation organized a side-event on The Status of Non-Believers in Europe on Wednesday 28th September. After an introduction by Vera Pegna, Suzy Mommaerts talked about Diversity in Europe Today. The side-event finished with an intervention of Jenoff van Hulle on The Freedom and Limits of Thought and Religion. In addition, the European Humanist Federation took the floor in the plenary meeting. On several occasions the EHF intervened on discrimination against non-believers in general (Vera Pegna) and in the Polish media in particular (Adam Cioch). The OSCE was pleased by our presence and assured us that the European Humanist Federation would be taken up as an official interlocutor in the future. For us, this is a successful foray that clearly set Humanism on the agenda of the OSCE.

Jenoff van Hulle is International Relations Officer of the European Humanist Federation

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security." - Benjamin Franklin