Washington has accused Russia on Tuesday of obstructionism in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) after a meeting on Human Rights was blocked by Moscow’s decision.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed in a statement published on US Department of State’s website Washington’s deep regrets over Moscow’s actions which led to blocking of the premier human rights conference of the Europe-Eurasia region.
OSCE 2021 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) should have opened in Warsaw, Poland, on Tuesday but it did not convene due to a decision by the Russian government to block it.
The US top diplomat said he deeply regret the Russian government’s attempt to block scrutiny of its worsening human rights record, pointing that the United States still expects the OSCE to hold its mandated annual HDIM meetings.
Blinken also added that Washington will not ignore human rights violations and will continue to do its utmost to spotlight the full range of human rights concerns across the OSCE region.
He underlined that the US will continue to urge Russia to fulfill its commitments, which include guaranteeing the protection of fundamental freedoms and allowing citizens to hold their governments accountable.
Blinken noted the conference’s annual reviews of the records of all participating countries, including the US, are OSCE’s hallmark, bringing to the negotiating table representatives of governments and civil society organizations from across the region.
OSCE says that HDIM is the largest annual human rights conference in Europe, during which hundreds of government officials, international experts, civil society representatives and human rights activists are assessing the states’ implementation of their commitments in the humanitarian dimension.
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