U.S. Policy toward OSCE Focus of Helsinki Commission Hearing

Washington - The United States Helsinki Commission will hold a hearing to examine U.S. policy toward the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

U.S. Policy toward the OSCE

Thursday, October 10, 2002

10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon

334 Cannon House Office Building

Testifying:

A. Elizabeth Jones, Assistant Secretary of State, European and Eurasian Affairs

Lorne W. Craner, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

Catherine A. Fitzpatrick, CIS Program Director, International League for Human Rights

Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director (DC), Europe and Central Asia Division, Human Rights Watch

Robert Templer, Asia Program Director, International Crisis Group

This hearing will examine U.S. priorities and long-standing human rights concerns in the OSCE region and how the OSCE can serve as a forum to advance those goals and address human rights violations; the role of the nearly 20 OSCE field activities including in Belarus, Chechnya, Georgia, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, and Uzbekistan; and expectations for the OSCE Ministerial Council in December.

Since the end of the Cold War, the OSCE has evolved into a singular instrument for advancing U.S. foreign policy goals in Eurasia, including the advancement of the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. It remains the only pan-European forum for military-security negotiations.

An un-official transcript will be available on the Helsinki Commission's Internet web site at http://www.csce.gov within 24 hours of the hearing.