VZCZCXRO3181
PP RUEHAST RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR
DE RUEHC #6035/01 0771948
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 181930Z MAR 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 8485
INFO ORG FOR SECURITY CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 STATE 026035 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL KDEM OSCE
SUBJECT: OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL:  RESPONSE TO REPORT OF 
ODIHR DIRECTOR LENARCIC 
 
¶1. (U) Post is authorized to present the following statement 
at the Permanent Council meeting in Vienna on March 19. 
 
Begin text: 
 
Madam Chairwoman, 
 
Thank you, Ambassador Lenarcic for your comprehensive report. 
 The United States strongly supports ODIHR, which has earned 
its place as a key institution in the OSCE's efforts to 
promote democratic development, human rights and free and 
fair elections. 
 
At a time when core human dimension commitments are 
increasingly being called into question, as was so 
convincingly argued in ODIHR's November 10, 2006 Common 
Responsibility Report submitted to the OSCE Ministerial 
Council, the role played by the ODIHR in promoting respect 
for human rights, providing objective assessments of the 
conduct of elections and supporting the development of 
democratic institutions, is as critical as it has ever been. 
Ambassador Lenarcic, the United States encourages ODIHR to 
focus even more sharply on those core elements of its 
mandate.  In doing so, the United States suggests that the 
ODIHR should prioritize those areas where OSCE commitments 
are the most clearly defined, and that ODIHR projects should 
focus on those countries where the gap between commitments 
and practices as well as the potential for progress are the 
greatest. 
 
The ODIHR should continue its valuable reporting, exemplified 
in its joint assessment with the HCNM of human rights in the 
war-affected areas of Georgia.  Serious human rights and 
humanitarian concerns remain in the zone of conflict, and 
will continue if not promptly addressed.  Accordingly, we 
encourage the ODIHR and the HCNM to return to Georgia, and 
especially to the Akhalgori region of South Ossetia, to 
monitor efforts to implement the report's recommendations. 
 
ODIHR's well-deserved reputation for election monitoring is 
directly attributable to its well-known, objective criteria 
and procedures for election observation.  All participating 
States have an interest in opposing any effort to undermine 
ODIHR's autonomy and impartiality, as well as any attempts to 
turn back the clock on the progress we have made in 
democratic practices within the OSCE region.  The United 
States has been, and will continue to be, in the forefront of 
States protecting ODIHR from political interference.  In this 
regard, we believe that the ODIHR has done an excellent job 
in fully responding to the taskings given in Brussels 
Ministerial Decision 19/06. 
 
We were pleased also to learn that there is a prospect for 
the resumption of the usually amicable cooperation and 
collaboration in election observation missions between the 
ODIHR and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly based on the 1997 
Cooperation Agreement.  Unlike other parliamentary assemblies 
that may join OSCE election observation missions, the OSCE 
Parliamentary Assembly is in a privileged status since it 
shares a leadership role with the ODIHR.  We appreciate the 
efforts of the Greek Chairmanship in this regard, as well as 
the constructive approach of both ODIHR and the Parliamentary 
Assembly in these discussions.  We continue to believe that 
both of these OSCE institutions play a critical role each 
providing unique and necessary expertise, and that our 
Organization is best served when we all speak with one voice 
and work together is a spirit of complementary partnership, 
cooperation and collaboration. 
 
The universally respected ODHIR objectivity and expertise and 
professionalism in election monitoring can and should be made 
available to countries outside the OSCE, especially to our 
Partners for Cooperation, whose fate greatly matters to our 
common security.  We note that Rangin Dadfar Spanta, the 
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, invited the OSCE 
to support the upcoming Presidential Election in that 
country, as it has in 2004 and 2005. We encourage the 
Chairmanship and the ODIHR to respond positively and 
dynamically to this request, and to make OSCE able to bring 
appropriate elections support to Afghanistan. 
 
The Democracy program projects are well designed and 
implemented and provide emerging democracies with much needed 
technical assistance in promoting the rule of law, developing 
transparent legislative processes, and building civil 
society.  With our increased focus on strengthening 
democratic institutions and respect for the rule of law in 
 
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2009, on the basis of Helsinki Ministerial Decision 7/08, we 
anticipate much greater activity by this program. 
 
In our view, the Human Rights program should focus more on 
the broad fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of 
expression, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion.  We 
look forward to the upcoming Supplemental Human Dimension 
Meeting on Freedom of Religion which is to have a rights 
based focus.  As was clearly shown in the recent roundtable 
on discrimination against Christians, a rights-based focus on 
the freedom of religion has been long neglected by the ODIHR. 
 The Human Rights program should develop technical assistance 
and training programs for the emerging democracies on how to 
ensure that fundamental freedoms are respected. 
 
ODIHR's tolerance work should focus on the priority areas of 
combating intolerance in those areas where the participating 
States have reached consensus - combating anti-Semitism, 
intolerance and discrimination against Muslims, Christians 
and members of other religions, and racism, xenophobia and 
related intolerance.  We also believe the Director of ODIHR 
should be prepared to highlight key concerns and current 
issues that may arise in areas covered by ODIHR's mandate. 
In this regard, we applaud your February 27 statement of 
concern about continuing attacks targeting Roma.  We urge 
ODIHR to energize and strengthen its activities in responding 
to and ameliorating continued discrimination and attacks on 
Roma in the OSCE region. 
 
In our view, the ODIHR effort to deal with hate crimes should 
focus on realistic, specific targeted initiatives that will 
help address the problem of core definitions, model 
legislation to meet OSCE commitments, data collection methods 
based on this model legislation, and a sharing of best 
practices. 
 
Civil society participation is the foundation of the 
effective review of the implementation of human dimension 
commitments by participating States.  ODIHR must set an 
example of inclusiveness of NGOs and transparency at all 
ODIHR-organized events and meetings. 
 
We look forward to working with you Ambassador Lenarcic, and 
the participating States, in the implementation of our OSCE 
Human Dimension commitments.  We applaud ODIHR for its 
excellent work, and you will continue to have our full 
support in the coming years. 
 
Thank you Madam Chairwoman. 
CLINTON