WARSAW, 6 September 2018 – Some 1,500 representatives of governments and civil society from the OSCE’s participating States and partner States will gather in Warsaw for a two-week meeting beginning on 10 September. They will review the implementation of the commitments adopted by their governments in the fields of human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy, and tolerance and non-discrimination.
Addressing the opening session of the OSCE Human Dimension Meeting will be Jacek Czaputowicz, Foreign Minister of Poland, Alessandro Azzoni, Chairperson of the OSCE Permanent Council and Italy’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Harlem Désir, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Lamberto Zannier, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, George Tsereteli, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and Paul Bekkers, Director of the Office of the Secretary General of the OSCE.
Michael O’Flaherty, Director of the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency, will deliver the keynote address
In addition to addressing a broad range of human rights and democracy issues, this year’s meeting will feature specially selected topics on freedom of the media, the rights of migrants and combating racism, xenophobia, intolerance and discrimination.
The conference, organized by ODIHR, is unique in that civil society groups have full access to working sessions and can discuss challenges with government representatives on an equal footing. On the margins of the meeting, some 100 independent side events will be held by governments, civil society groups and OSCE institutions and field operations on specific topics of concern, as well as on country situations.
The opening and closing sessions of the event will be open to media representatives. Journalists are invited to attend the opening session, which will begin at 10:00 on Monday, 10 September at Sofitel Warsaw Victoria hotel, ul. Krolewska, Warsaw. Accreditation for journalists will be conducted on site, and they are advised to arrive at least 30 minutes ahead of the opening to ensure sufficient time to receive a badge.
The agenda, a list of side events, and other information will be available in English and Russian on the conference website: https://www.osce.org/odihr/hdim_2018
Follow the conference on ODIHR’s Facebook page, or on Twitter at @osce_odihr. Live streaming of the sessions in both English and Russian, throughout the entire 10-day conference, can also be accessed on ODIHR’s Facebook page. For PDF attachments or links to sources of further information, please visit: http://www.osce.org/node/393044
Contacts:
Public Affairs Unit, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Office: +48 22 520 06 00
Fax: +48 22 520 06 05
PublicAffairs@odihr.pl
Thomas Rymer
Ul. Miodowa 10
00-251 Warsaw
Poland
Office: +48 22 520 0640
Mobile: +48 609 522 266
Thomas.Rymer@odihr.pl
