Representatives of Civic Solidarity Platform member organisations met United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Dublin on 6 December 2012.
11 human rights defenders from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Turkmenistan and Serbia, representing Civic Solidarity Platform member organisations briefed Hillary Clinton on the most alarming trends in human rights satiation in their countries and the OSCE region as a whole. Particular attention was paid to persecution of civil activists, and the fact in several countries (Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan) human rights defenders are in prison for their legitimate activities.
“The United States have always supported and will continue supporting human rights and their defenders, and we understand we need to come up with new mechanisms to be more effective in this work,” Hillary Clinton told Civic Solidarity Platform members.
“You feel tremendous pressure, and maybe it’s not reconciliation now, but you are on the right side of the history,” United States Secretary of State admitted.