- OSCE Chairperson regrets violence in southern Kyrgyzstan, calls for calm and stability

ASTANA, 11 June 2010 - The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakhstan’s Secretary of State and Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, today expressed his deep regret at the violent clashes in the Kyrgyzstan’s southern city of Osh in which a number of people lost their lives and hundreds were wounded. 

Saudabayev noted that, from the first days of the political crisis, President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the Kazakhstan’s OSCE Chairmanship had made every effort to promote a peaceful settlement and supported the Interim Government’s steps in this direction.

However, he added, events showed that the current situation in the country remains far from stable.

"I call on all parties to refrain from violence and to resolve the existing problems through dialogue and compromise," Saudabayev said.

The OSCE Chairmanship, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, the OSCE Centre in Bishkek and its Field Office in Osh are ready to continue to help in resolving the current situation in Kyrgyzstan.

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- OSCE states celebrate progress since adoption of landmark 1990 Copenhagen document, but say some promises remain unfulfilled

COPENHAGEN, 11 June 2010 - In a conference that concluded today, representatives of the OSCE’s participating States acknowledged the immense progress that has been made in advancing human rights and democracy in the region since the adoption of the landmark Copenhagen Document 20 years ago, but also stressed that the commitments made in 1990 have not always been fully implemented.

At the conference, organized by Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship and the Danish Foreign Ministry to mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Copenhagen Document, state representatives and civil society groups reviewed the implementation of the groundbreaking human rights and democracy provisions included in the Document and discussed ways to close existing implementation gaps.

Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said that the key concept developed in Copenhagen - the intrinsic link between democracy, human rights and the rule of law - is now widely accepted across the region.

But he stressed that there is no room for complacency: "Democratic institutions and governance are practices that go far beyond liberal-sounding constitutions and formally elected assemblies." The Copenhagen Document remains a highly relevant guide and a powerful source of inspiration in efforts to turn the promises made at the end of the Cold War into concrete reality for all of the more than 1 billion people in the OSCE region, Lenarcic said.

The 1990 Copenhagen Document was a milestone in ending the Cold War. It is one of the most far-reaching international human rights agreements ever adopted, setting new standards in areas such as democratic elections, minority rights protection and the rule of law.

On the margins of the conference, ODIHR launched the sixth edition of its Election Observation Handbook. The systematic monitoring of national elections by international observers was one of the innovations introduced by the 1990 Copenhagen Document.

The Copenhagen Document served as a blueprint for the creation and fostering of democratic societies in the region, said Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova, who represented the Kazakh OSCE chairmanship. "We all agree that the implementation of our commitments is an ongoing process and we must redouble our efforts to reach our common goals."

Arnold Skibsted, Denmark’s Human Rights Ambassador, said that when the Copenhagen Document was adopted, Europe "enjoyed a tremendous and unprecedented momentum for freedom, democracy and human rights, which made the adoption of this absolutely crucial instrument possible".

"We have taken stock of our compliance with the ambitious standards we set for ourselves 20 years ago. Progress has been achieved, but gaps remain. Our work never stops. We need to be forward-looking, and the human dimension of security needs to be a living concept in order to be able to address pertinent issues."

The results of the conference will contribute to the Corfu process, the ongoing dialogue within the OSCE on wider European security issues.

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