Address by chief Russian delegate, Director of the Foreign Ministry Department for Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights Anatoly Viktorov at the opening session of the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, Warsaw, September 21, 2015
Mr President, colleagues,
I’d like to express our gratitude to the Serbian OSCE Presidency for organising this meeting.
The creation of a universal system for protecting human rights is one of the main results of the victory in World War II, the 70th anniversary of which the world marked this year. Humankind must bear in mind the horrible consequences of the attempts to establish global domination, belief in one’s exceptionalism and disregard for the rules of law and morals.
Unfortunately, the vaccine against the Nazi virus that was developed at the Nuremberg Trials has seriously weakened. The dangerous attempts to rewrite history and the glorification of Nazis and their henchmen have been growing in scale and size. A recent example is the unveiling of a monument to Latvian “forest brothers,” the local military formations within the Waffen SS that killed innocent civilians, in the town of Īle on September 11. The event was supported by Latvian officials.
This political short-sightedness can have tragic consequences, as evidenced by the conflict in Ukraine. We hope the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) will take a more active stance on these issues.
Immunity to radical ideologies has greatly weakened in many OSCE countries, often under the pretext of respect for the freedom of expression. The events in Ferguson, Missouri, have shone a spotlight on the recurrent acute problems of racism and segregation. Another important objective is to protect the rights of ethnic minorities, in particular, non-citizens in Latvia and Estonia.
Mr President,
Speculations on human rights for selfish political goals are unacceptable. A glaring example is the Ukrainian conflict, which was provoked by the United States and the EU. It is the US and the EU, which, acting contrary to the Helsinki Final Act and the UN Charter, incited a state coup in Kiev and punitive operations in south-eastern Ukraine, which have killed thousands and forced over a million people to flee their homes.
Many crimes that have been committed against peaceful civilians on Maidan in Kiev, in Odessa, Mariupol and other cities in Ukraine have not been investigated. We see an all-out attack on the freedom of expression. The journalists who tell the truth about the bloody events in Ukraine are ruthlessly persecuted. The Ukrainian military continue to shell peaceful Donbass residential areas, killing civilians.
It is outrageous that ODIHR has not reacted to these crimes. Why have the Office and its director, who willingly criticise governments that ran afoul of Washington and Brussels, limited their reaction to minor remarks? Why didn’t ODIHR support the right of Crimeans to self-determination through a democratic referendum? You know the explanation: double standards, hypocrisy and a desire to satisfy selfish Western interests.
I must mention in this respect the recent biased and politicised ODIHR/HCNM report on Crimea. It was prepared without the OSCE countries’ approval and hence in direct violation of the OSCE executive agencies’ mandate and the OSCE standards and principles. The use of the terms “occupation” and “annexation” in the report with regard to Crimea is absolutely unacceptable. The report shows that ODIHR and HCNM are operating in a standalone anti-Russian manner and are openly playing up to Kiev and its Western sponsors.
This confrontation-prone approach is undermining the prestige of ODIHR and HCNM and public trust in them. Their practices and principles should be reviewed and their mandates reformed.
Mr President,
Journalism remains one of the most dangerous professions, especially during an armed conflict. Unfortunately, some countries’ policies make journalists’ life even more vulnerable. For example, the US Department of Defence has recently updated its Law of War manual, which now treats journalists as “unprivileged belligerents,” to allow the US military to attack and even kill journalists. This has long been a daily practice for the Ukrainian military, which deports, kidnaps, tortures and kills journalists who objectively report about the situation in Ukraine. Kiev’s new “achievement” was placing journalists from several countries on the sanctions list that denies them entry into Ukraine. Journalists have been deported from Moldova and denied accreditation in Latvia under far-fetched pretexts. But the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media has reacted to these violations seldom or half-heartedly.
Mr President,
Christians have become one of the most vulnerable groups not only in the Middle East and North Africa, where the West has contributed to the emergence and rise of a global problem called the Islamic State or ISIS. Vandalism, intolerance and discrimination have become a fact of life in the Western OSCE countries, where Christians still constitute a majority. The protection of Christians should become a major aspect of the OSCE’s work on a par with the efforts to stop anti-Semitism and discrimination against Muslims. A relevant OSCE conference, which was held in May, has greatly contributed to these efforts.
The flow of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa into Europe is a result of the West’s irresponsible interference in the internal affairs of regional countries with the purpose of overthrowing “undesirable” governments. However, people are not fleeing dictators but terrorists who are committing hideous crimes in the region. We cannot understand the policy of the EU countries, which are erecting barriers and keeping refugees under inhuman conditions, contrary to their humanitarian commitments.
We are ready for an open dialogue and constructive cooperation within the OSCE on these and other issues.
As for the statements made by the EU and several other delegations, we’d like to remind you that Crimea is an inseparable part of the Russian Federation. Their stubborn insistency regarding the “annexation” of Crimea sounds very much like Cold War rhetoric. Accusing Russia of human rights violations on the peninsula are ungrounded and extremely politicised. We have repeatedly informed the OSCE member states about our stance on this matter, and we consider it counterproductive to do so again.
Thank you.