Cablegate: Osce Permanent Council: Statement On Tolerance

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM OSCE
SUBJECT: OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL: STATEMENT ON TOLERANCE

1. Post is authorized to present the following statement at
the February 25 Permanent Council meeting in Vienna.

Begin text:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The Chairmanship has declared tolerance to be one of its
Human Dimension priorities this year. We welcome that, and
take the floor today to consider how the OSCE might lay the
foundation for an ambitious, long-term effort to combat
intolerance and discrimination across the region.

The United States attaches great importance to the OSCE's
work on confronting the roots of intolerance, strengthening
respect for individual human rights, and promoting an
environment free of persecution or prejudice. We strongly
believe that a comprehensive, lasting solution to underlying
problems of intolerance cannot stop at fostering inter-faith
and inter-cultural dialogue. It must also be based on
national legal guarantees of equal rights for all citizens,
including fundamental freedoms of expression, association and
religion, the effective integration of diverse ethnic and
religious populations, and the protection of individuals
against violent manifestations of intolerance.

Awareness is crucial in creating the momentum for building
societies where differences are not only tolerated, but also
respected, and ultimately embraced and celebrated. A
relevant illustration for our region concerns the Roma, as
insufficient teaching about Romani experiences and
achievements has hindered a genuine change of attitude
towards Roma in many OSCE countries. Through education and
government advocacy, we must strive to resist persistent
stereotypes and ignorance, which all too often lead to acts
of discrimination and violence.

Governments also need to ensure equal access to education,
employment, voting and other public services and to promote
vigorous enforcement of civil rights laws. In many
participating States, equal access to education, civil rights
and public services remains problematic. Nor has my own
country been immune to this phenomenon, having long struggled
to overcome a devastating legacy of unfair treatment toward a
number of ethnic and racial groups.

We have repeatedly expressed our concern about a rise in the
number of hate crimes in the OSCE area and stressed the value
of collecting hate crime statistics and increasing training
of law enforcement and judicial officials on hate crime
legislation. As a matter of policy, the United States
believes that bias or hate crimes pose a significant threat
to the full participation of all citizens in a democratic
society. By law, we are committed to ensuring the civil
rights and human rights of all people and to protecting their
safety from violent attacks based on their real or perceived
attributes, including race, religion, ethnicity, nationality,
disability, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity.

Civil society plays an important role in the prevention of
hate crimes, including in community outreach and education,
informing targeted communities of their rights and victim
assistance, and must be allowed to do so. While civil
society can work to educate and inform citizens about their
rights, only through government action can discrimination and
violent acts of intolerance be fully rectified.

Government can and should take an active role in promoting
tolerance and respect for diversity. This role is not in
tension with the government's role as guarantor of individual
rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech. OSCE
states differ on the extent to which we permit hate speech in
the media, on the internet or in public discourse. In the
U.S., NGOs actively counter intolerance and hateful
expression. Furthermore, we believe a free media works best
to promote respect for diversity, democracy, equality and
fundamental freedoms, as it serves as a marketplace where
more enlightened ideas can prevail over shortsighted or
biased ones.

While we as participating States have repeatedly stated in
our common commitments our resolve to combat intolerance,
discrimination, and hate crimes, we need to do a better job
of putting those words into action. Troubling trends include
police raids and arrests for peaceful religious activity;
religious groups facing difficulties in registration,
governments putting restrictions on places of worship,
religious attire, the use of minority languages, or peaceful
cultural expression, and actions by political leadership that
exploit ethnic tensions or reiterate unhelpful stereotypes.

The U.S. believes that the ODIHR with its excellent programs
is the right home within the OSCE for promoting tolerance.
We also strongly support the activities of the three Personal
Representatives to help spur political will and spread best
practices for combating three distinct forms of intolerance
in the OSCE. But these efforts must be accompanied by the
political will of participating States to implement their
commitments.

The establishment of a society void of racism, xenophobia or
other forms of intolerance and discrimination must be a goal,
however lofty, to which we continue to strive. This process
is intrinsically linked to that of the establishment of a
nation grounded in the democratic principles of liberty,
justice, and freedom. It requires political action, legal
developments and social transitions. To paraphrase civil
rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., we must dream of
nations in which our children would be judged not by the
color of their skin, or any similar physical aspect, but by
the content of their character.

In that vein, the United States hopes that the goodwill and
interest harnessed by the chairmanship to hold a high level
tolerance conference will be a springboard to generate
political will and fruitful follow-up for years to come.

Thank you.

END TEXT
CLINTON

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