The yearly OSCE review conference on human rights – Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) – was concluded on Friday, after two intensive weeks. Civil society organizations and government representatives from the OSCE participating States have been reviewing how well the countries have lived up to their commitments in the areas of democracy and human rights. A broad range of topics have been discussed, including freedom of expression, assembly and religion, as well as hate crime, the rule of law and non-discrimination.
Sweden had representatives from the OSCE-delegation as well as from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs – among others, the Swedish ambassador for human rights Annika Ben David, who delivered a statement on the newly launched Swedish Government’s initiative “Drive for Democracy”. Read her statement here.
Ambassador Ulrika Sundberg, and newly appointed special envoy for intercultural and interreligious dialogue participated. Amb. Ulrika Sundberg met with inter alia the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on combating anti-semitism, Rabbi Andrew Baker.
Sweden co-sponsored several side-events, covering topics such as the safety of journalists, LGBTI-rights in Chechnya, the deterioration of human rights in Crimea, how anti-semitism is best fought in practice, and freedom of assembly. In addition to this, Sweden held statements on behalf of the EU, covering the topics of freedom of expression and the safety of journalists. All EU-statements can be found here.
