Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2005-2006.

Cheney at Summit in Lithuania Says Russia Has "Choice to Make" Human Rights (a State Dept./IIP webpage)

18 May 2006

(United States strongly disagrees with Russian criticism of OSCE)

Washington -- A congressional hearing May 18 focused on the controversy surrounding the democracy and human rights programs of Europe’s largest human rights group, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

A senior State Department official testifying at the hearing rejected recent criticisms of OSCE programs by Russia and other former Soviet republics. The programs at issue are implemented by OSCE’s Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), which is celebrating its 15th anniversary and is perhaps best known for its election monitoring.

Kurt Volker, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, began his testimony by praising the role ODIHR has played in promoting tolerance, fighting trafficking in persons and providing election assistance to the Palestinian Territories and Afghanistan.

“ODIHR’s democracy promotion effort is one of the great success stories of post-Cold War international cooperation,” Volker said.

Russia and other former Soviet republics have criticized ODIHR for alleged double standards on human rights, for concentrating excessively on the former Soviet republics, for politicizing election assessments and for interfering in domestic issues, he said.

“The United States strongly disagrees with these criticisms,” Volker said.

“All OSCE states signed on to the same commitments to respect human rights and to hold free and fair elections,” he said. OSCE election-observation missions base their assessments on standard criteria laid out in a publicly available handbook.

As for the contention that OSCE concentrates too much on the former Soviet states, Volker cited many examples of OSCE work “west of Vienna,” including the monitoring of U.S. elections in November 2004 and the upcoming midterm elections in November 2006.

He rejected as “unwarranted” the charge of ODIHR “interference” in domestic affairs: “Participating States agreed in Moscow in 1991 that human dimension commitments are ‘matters of direct and legitimate concern to all participating States and do not belong exclusively to the internal affairs of the state concerned.’ We reject as inconsistent criticism of ODIHR for holding true to the mandate all OSCE states charged it with 15 years ago.”

Volker also said the United States will not agree “to any move that would diminish ODIHR’s autonomy or decrease the OSCE’s democracy and human rights work.” He questioned the motives of those making such proposals: “We fear the real issue is not methodology, but the lack of political will among some participating states to implement existing OSCE commitments and to allow the voice of the electorate to be heard.”

In addition, Volker said, “We believe Russia, like all 55 OSCE States, is best served by neighbors that are democratic, prosperous, secure, and integrating together as part of a democratic and market-oriented European and Eurasia political and economic space. This is the best defense against the spread of extremism and terrorism. We seek to work together with Russia to build this kind of strong Euro-Atlantic area, anchored firmly on the full implementation of OSCE’s time-honored principles.”

Vice President Cheney, addressing a summit of leaders from the Baltic and Black Sea states May 4 in Vilnius, Lithuania, criticized opponents of democratic reform and democratic values in Russia. “Russia has a choice to make,” Cheney said. “And there is no question that a return to democratic reform in Russia will generate further success for its people and greater respect among fellow nations.”  (See related article.)

ODIHR Director Ambassador Christian Strohal testified as well at the hearing, which was held by the U.S. Helsinki Commission, a bipartisan human rights watchdog. Strohal defended his office, saying the “criticism is not substantive criticism whereby the findings of our election observation reports have been proven to be incorrect.” Like Volker, he rejected the criticism as “an attempt to shift the debate away from unfulfilled commitments.”

Strohal said there is a “real electoral crisis in the OSCE region” caused by anti-democratic trends towards limiting competition in elections and marginalizing voter choices. “The conduct of democratic elections can only be established and maintained through a genuine political commitment,” he said. 

Several representatives from nongovernmental organizations also testified: Carl Gershman, the president of the National Endowment for Democracy; Jeff Fischer, senior director of the Center for Transitional and Post-Conflict Governance, IFES; Patrick Merloe, senior associate and director of Programs on Election Processes, National Democratic Institute; and Lorne Craner, the president of the International Republican Institute.

An unofficial transcript of the hearing and the prepared statements of the witnesses are available on the Helsinki Commission Web site.

For additional information on U.S. policy, see Human Rights.