I am delivering this statement on behalf of the following delegations: Albania,
Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Czechia, Denmark,
Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia,
Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and my own country Sweden.
We have followed closely and with increasing concern the human rights
situation in Georgia.
As an OSCE participating State, Georgia has undertaken to uphold human
rights and fundamental freedoms. It has also recognised that respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms is an essential factor for the peace,
justice and well-being necessary to ensure the development of friendly
relations and co-operation among States.
In December 2024 38 participating States invoked the OSCE Vienna
Mechanism, in order to express concern about developments in Georgia
and to request more information. Our delegations as well as others have
repeatedly raised our concerns in the Permanent Council, believing the
Council is an important forum to promote dialogue and consultations
among participating States.
However our concerns about implementation of shared human dimension
commitments and international human rights obligations by the Georgian
authorities have only increased.
Recalling that all participating States have committed to co-operative
review of implementation of commitments in the field of the human
dimension and in particular participating States’ agreement at Astana that
“commitments undertaken in the field of the human dimension are matters
of direct and legitimate concern to all participating States”, we invoke
paragraph 12 of the 1991 Document of the Moscow meeting of the
Conference on the Human Dimension of the then CSCE in order to establish
a fact-finding mission to assess Georgia’s implementation of its OSCE
commitments, with a particular focus on developments since spring 2024.
We acknowledge Georgia’s engagement with our delegations during 2025
and it is in a spirit of a constructive approach that our delegations have today
written to the Director of ODIHR.
We note Georgia’s response to questions raised in the 2024 Vienna
Mechanism and urge Georgia to cooperate with and facilitate the work of the
Mission, as per paragraph 6 of the Moscow Document. Such engagement
would demonstrate goodwill and readiness for a constructive and open
dialogue. We recall that in accordance with paragraph 10 of the Moscow
Document, one member of the Mission may be chosen by Georgia from the
List of Experts for the Human Dimension Mechanism maintained by the
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
We look forward to working with the OSCE’s Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights on arrangements for the Mission.