COPENHAGEN, 10 December 2019 – OSCE parliamentarians must speak up loudly and clearly to champion the victims of human rights abuses, particularly the most vulnerable members of society, said the Chair and Vice-Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee today.

In observance of International Human Rights Day, which commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948, Committee Chair Kyriakos Hadjiyianni (MP, Cyprus) issued the following statement:

“On this International Human Rights Day let’s take a moment to remember all the victims of human rights abuses around the world – the political prisoners, the victims of torture and the death penalty, the women suffering from domestic violence, the children who are in conflict zones or who are on the move as migrants and refugees. We in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly want you to know that you are not alone. As OSCE parliamentarians we pledge to increase our efforts to make sure that your stories are told and that human rights are placed at the very top of the international agenda.”

Committee Vice-Chair Michael Georg Link (MP, Germany) said:

“In these times of rising authoritarianism and attacks on multilateralism, sadly the human rights agenda does not receive enough attention. As the leaders of the OSCE PA’s human rights committee we must do our part to give this issue the prominence that it needs to have if we are ever to make progress. This is particularly the case when it comes to the most vulnerable members of our society: women, children, minorities, people with disabilities. We must speak up loudly and clearly to champion their cause. On this Human Rights Day, let us redouble our efforts to make the respect for human rights the norm around the world.”

For more information on the work of the OSCE PA’s General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, please click here.