CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
Mr. Chair,
In connection with the process leading to the decisions made to organise this year’s HDIM, Norway would like to state the following.
As nearly all participating States, and in accordance with historical and current practice, we find that the modalities for OSCE events are to be interpreted to allow the broadest possible participation of civil society. Broad participation of civil society at OSCE events is a specific strength and value of OSCE events. We remain unconvinced that current practice does not adequately implement the OSCE acquis.
Norway highly appreciates Ambassador Boháč and his team’s serious efforts to find an acceptable solution under very demanding circumstances. We have taken note of the Chair’s proposal to take the responsibility of making decisions on the application of paragraph 16, that is on the participation, or non-participation, of specific organisations for specific OSCE events, following transparent discussions with interested states.
Application of paragraph 16 is, or can at least be perceived as, some kind of procedure for surrogate designation of a violent or terrorist organisation. Since such application would be made in an organisation in which we participate, and that decides by consensus, we would obviously need to be part of the deliberations on application in every instance. Clearly then, deliberations must be transparent and open to all participating States. Norway finds that a decision to deviate from the current practice of allowing for the broadest possible participation in line with the modalities should be the responsibility of the Permanent Council.
The proposed procedures make it clear that any decision to apply paragraph 16 will be valid only for specific organisations for this specific event, without prejudice for neither the concerned organisation nor any future event. After serious doubts and thorough consideration, we have found that in the circumstances these procedures can be accepted in this particular instance.
We would request this statement be attached to the journal of the day.
Thank you
Statement on the Organising of the 2019 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting.pdf