Mr. Stavros Lambrinidis:

I am speaking about ODIHR and the human dimension. The OSCE has a human dimension which is what was discussed in Warsaw in October. Because of the necessity for consensus we had one more chance, in Dublin in December, to reach conclusions on the human dimension at ministerial level. The same had happened the year before. The OSCE system must re-engage at human rights level and focus on the application of the commitments which have already been agreed. Commitments are agreed and then people move on to the next issue. Re-establishing a focus on the application of commitments, scrutinising whether people have applied what they were told to do, might be effective and reinvigorate a system which seems to be too polarised, politically speaking, for real action.

We must support human rights messages, whether from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, nascent national human rights institutions in various countries and those human rights institutions which need our support. We must do this because human rights will not spread if it is down to the EU attempting to impose them. They must become the property of the people and the countries themselves, which requires these countries to have strong independent institutions and NGOs which have the capacity to be credible to make a difference, be multipliers of the debate and be politically active and effective. We support human rights messages through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights and other means.