On 4 October, a meeting of the Review Conference of the OSCE in Warsaw took place. Second edition of the Venice Commission guiding principles for the OSCE was presented here.
Issues related to the implementation of the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and freedom of associations forming the fundamentals of any democratic system were discussed.
Venice Commission provides legislative support to the OSCE participating States to assist them in ensuring the compliance of their legislation in matters relating to freedom of peaceful assembly to OSCE commitments and international standards.
The representative of Latvia said that the era of human rights that began in 1975 with Helsinki Final Act had unfortunately ended, and the current era of Machiavelli when incommunicado detention, prolonged detention without a court decision, restricted freedom of assembly in different countries take place. He also expressed regret that the problems with human rights in different countries were not voiced because human rights were often used for purposes far from real intention to protect them, and were used for political purposes and interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
He called the international bodies dealing with human rights complains ineffective. And the decisions taken were often dependent on political preferences rather than on legal norms.
The representative of Georgia accused Russia that it had occupied Georgian territory and said that due to this the freedom of movement was limited.
In response, the participant for Russia said that the issue has been addressed to a wrong side, and that the answer might be given by South Ossetia and Abkhazia, whose delegations were not present at the OSCE conference. He stressed that Russia was not an occupant either in South Ossetia or in Abkhazia.
"It is well known that Georgia attacked South Ossetia in violation of all norms of international law and was defeated. Russia does not oppose the OSCE presence in these countries, but this presence must be established on a neutral basis and in consultation with the authorities of South Ossetia and Abkhazia ", said Russian official.
A participant from Moldova said that for the protection of human rights in the OSCE area it would be very useful to study the situation and share experiences. He pointed to the need to foster pluralism and promote for existence of different points of view.
Additionally to representatives of OSCE member States, the conference was attended by representatives of public and non-governmental organizations.
Inal Pliev
Warsaw-Tskhinval
