ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND
COOPERATION IN EUROPE
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is responsible for ensuring implementation of the Helsinki Accords. It is an inter-governmental body which consists of more than 50 European countries, as well as the United States and Canada. It was originally formed to help resolve conflicts during the Cold War and since the end of the Cold War has continued as an inter-governmental organisation which focuses on conflict resolution, security and human rights.
The OSCE has developed a series of treaties which have recognised the vital need for infusing human rights principles into agreements which are essential to resolving conflicts and providing standards for civilised countries to live by. The Helsinki Final Act was adopted in 1975 by the OSCE. It is divided into three sections, described as “baskets.” Principle VII of the first basket protects religious freedom and the rights of minorities.
The Act states that “participating States will recognise and respect the freedom of the individual to profess and practise, alone or in community with others, religion or belief acting in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience.”
The OSCE Conference in Vienna in March 1989 laid out in detail specific rights guaranteed by the participating States of the OSCE, including the right to maintain places of worship, the right to ensure religious education of one’s children in conformity with one’s own convictions and the right to have and use religious works. The relevant excerpts are included in the Appendix.
The degree to which each government in practise does enforce the human rights protections in the UN Covenants, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Helsinki Accords is an index of the quality of its democracy.
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