On 28 April 2026, the Albanian Chair of the OSCE Human Dimension Committee hosted a side event in Vienna dedicated to civil society, bringing together participating States, civil society organisations, and OSCE structures for a discussion on how to strengthen meaningful engagement across the OSCE area. The event took place at the Hofburg and focused on the Civic Solidarity Platform’s Vienna Declaration recommendations: “Reviving the Helsinki Principles, Strengthening Security in a Comprehensive Way, and Ensuring Meaningful Civil Society Participation.”
In his presentation, Yuri Dzhibladze, a CSP member, highlighted that the Helsinki principles and the concept of comprehensive security remain as relevant today as they were 50 years ago, but that their implementation has significantly deteriorated. He underlined the OSCE’s crisis in responding to Russian aggression, weak accountability for violations, and insufficient engagement with broader security challenges such as climate change, migration, gender equality, disinformation, and shrinking civic space.
The Civic Solidarity Platform Vienna Declaration (2025) calls for a more cross-dimensional and human-centred OSCE approach, stronger accountability mechanisms, greater involvement of civil society, and fuller integration of environmental and feminist perspectives into security policy. It also argues that durable peace requires justice for victims, an end to impunity, and more systematic cooperation between civil society, OSCE institutions, and participating States.
Suter Tejada, Co-President of the Swiss Helsinki Committee and Anastasia Lortkipanidze, a civil society activist from Georgia reflected growing concern about the deterioration of OSCE commitments across the region. The discussion closed with a shared message: preserving the OSCE as a dialogue platform is not enough; practical action is needed to protect rights, strengthen accountability, and support civil society.
The event was organized by the Representative of Albania to the International Organizations in Vienna.
CSP would like to extend sincere gratitude to Ambassador Eglantina Gjermeni, Human Dimension Committee Chair Permanent (Albania) for her unwavering commitment to human rights.
Yuri Dzhibladze’s remarks are available as a separate publication in a PDF attachment.
Photo: ©️ Micky Kroell