Interventions for the 2024 OSCE Warsaw Human Dimension Conference

Ukraine: Condemning the displacement, indoctrination, and militarization of Ukrainian children by the Republic of Belarus and the Union State 

Plenary Session I: Humanitarian Issues I  - OSCE Warsaw Human Dimension Conference 2024

Freedom House continues to unambiguously condemn the Russian Federation’s illegal and ongoing full-scale war against Ukraine and its occupation of Ukrainian territories. We firmly stand with Ukraine and its allies in stating that Russia has no legitimate claim to the sovereign Ukrainian territory of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia regions, and Crimea.

Today, Freedom House sounds the alarm over the displacement of Ukrainian children from these territories and denounces the active involvement of the Republic of Belarus and the Union State of Russia and Belarus in this crime. We also condemn the insidious role of Belarusian GONGOS in aiding the regime and Union State in their crimes. The Russian Federation has been displacing Ukrainian children from occupied territories since its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Belarusian regime and Union State have allowed it to intensify this practice.

Freedom House is grateful for the diligent work of its partners the Ukrainian civil society organizations the ZMINA Human Rights Information Center (ZMINA) and the Regional Center for Human Rights (RCHR), as well as independent Belarusian civil society organizations in exile, Viasna and BELPOL, in investigating and exposing these egregious crimes against Ukraine’s most vulnerable citizens. Our joint investigation, which we will publish on October 4, reveals that the Belarusian regime, Union State, and Belarusian GONGOs, such as the Aliaksei Talai Foundation, are guilty of not only displacing Ukrainian children, but also of their systematic indoctrination and militarization. Over 2,000 Ukrainian children have been subjected to this treatment.

Displaced Ukrainian children are being brainwashed through the Belarusian educational system and so-called “cultural programs.” By enrolling them in Belarusian schools where the language of instruction is Russian and where the curriculum promotes Russian propaganda narratives, and by forcing children to participate in “cultural” activities in which political, religious, and cultural figures tell them that they are, in fact, Russian, the Belarusian regime is violating these Ukrainian children’s right to identity and nationality. This deplorable policy of re-education is inextricably linked to the Russian Federation’s broader attempt to eradicate Ukrainian national and cultural identity.

Freedom House also condemns the militarization of Ukrainian children by Belarusian authorities and entities acting on their behalf. The Lukashenka regime actively forces Ukrainian children to meet with members of military units, military-patriotic clubs, and law enforcement who teach them how to use weapons and reinforce Russian propaganda narratives.

Furthermore, Freedom House deplores the exploitation of displaced Ukrainian children in Belarusian and Russian propaganda. The regimes and their agents force Ukrainian children to feature in videos, broadcast on the news and across social media, aimed at justifying and legitimizing the crimes committed against them. State journalists subject them to leading questions and force them to recollect and re-enact traumatic events, often bringing them to tears. Such videos completely disregard the children’s privacy, with some mentioning their real name and surname, as well as other personal data.

Freedom House calls for the personal accountability of three key Belarusian and Russian officials for these crimes against Ukrainian children:

• Aleksandr Lukashenko, self-proclaimed president of Belarus.

• Dmitry Mezentsev, State Secretary of the Union State.

• Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Union State’s Council of Ministers.

We also call attention to the complicity of former Belarusian paralympic athlete Aliaksei Talai and his namesake foundation. He and the named government officials are the architects of the Republic of Belarus and Union State’s displacement, indoctrination, and militarization of Ukrainian children. Their crimes must not go unpunished.

The systematic displacement, indoctrination, and militarization of Ukrainian children demands further international outcry and condemnation. Freedom House calls on OSCE participating States and OSCE institutions to shine further light on these human rights abuses and pursue justice for the victims. In addition, we urge the following actions.

Freedom House calls on OSCE participating States to:

• Join us in urging the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a preliminary examination of the Russian and Belarusian regimes’ systematic re-education and militarization of Ukrainian children, as well as to issue arrest warrants for Aleksandr Lukashenko, Aliaksei Talai, Mikhail Mishustin, and Dmitry Mezentsev. Should these warrants be issued, we would discourage OSCE participating States from inviting any of these individuals for official visits.

• Impose targeted sanctions against Russian and Belarusian individuals and entities behind these coordinated efforts, as well as harmonize sectoral sanctions against Russia and Belarus, given the Lukashenko regime’s complicity and participation in Putin’s full-scale invasion Ukraine.

• Support the creation of a unified, independent database for the collection of evidence pertaining to the crimes of the aforementioned Belarusian, Russian, and Union State officials, as well as of the representatives of organizations cooperating with them.

• Highlight in diplomatic engagements and international forums the Belarusian regime’s complicity and active participation in the Kremlin’s ongoing efforts to eradicate Ukrainian children’s national and cultural identity.

• Publicly (re)affirm the principles behind the fourth point of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula, which calls on Russia to release of all prisoners and deportees that it has taken from Ukraine.

• Urge the Russian Federation to implement the recommendation of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

• In coordination with the Government of Ukraine, consider joining and additional government members for the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children.

• Pursue the establishment of a formal international mechanism, whether through the UN or another international body, to systematically return Ukrainian children.

 

Proliferating “Foreign Influence” Laws are a Threat to Human Dimension in the OSCE Region

Plenary Session VI: Rule of Law II   - OSCE Warsaw Human Dimension Conference 2024

Freedom House calls the attention of the OSCE ODIHR and participating States to the increasing proliferation of national regulations in the OSCE region that seek to designate nongovernmental organizations as agents of foreign influence or otherwise mark them as outcasts.

In the recent years, governments in Georgia, Hungary, the Kyrgyz Republic, Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovakia have either attempted to pass or passed legislative changes that claim to ensure the transparency of funding sources for nongovernmental organizations in the name of defending national sovereignty. Yet, analysis of the proposed and enacted laws shows that they are not at all about transparency. In fact, these laws are being used to restrict civil society and force groups out of operation. Many violate core democratic values and disproportionately burden civil society organizations with onerous reporting requirements, wide-reaching violations of privacy, and disproportionately high fines for noncompliance.

Many of the “foreign influence” laws follow the egregious example of the Russian “foreign agents” legislation, adopted in 2012 and further expanded to include nongovernmental organizations, media outlets, and individual citizens. In a seminal 2022 decision, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Russian law severely violated freedoms of assembly and association and was unnecessary in a democratic environment. Nevertheless, the Kyrgyz law on “foreign representatives,” swiftly adopted in 2024, contains vast verbatim borrowings from the Russian legislation.

Despite OSCE ODIHR’s comprehensive analysis and additional recommendations to the government of Georgia, widespread public protests, and the outpouring of criticism from democratic allies, this year the Georgian parliament adopted a law on the “transparency of foreign influence,” just in time for the upcoming parliamentary elections. In Hungary, after a failed previous attempt at a “foreign agents” law, the parliament passed the “Sovereignty Protection Act,” which supposedly seeks to prevent foreign funding of national elections yet provides for unchecked investigative power against a wide range of non-state actors, including journalists, churches, and trade unions. And in Slovakia, the ruling coalition has taken up the agenda to “end the era of NGO rule” by introducing their amendment to the country’s NGO law requiring organizations receiving more than 5,000 euros annually to register as “organizations with foreign support.”

Aside from “foreign agent” labeling, undemocratic governments have been increasingly criminalizing civil society and independent media activity by weaponizing ambiguously written laws on “extremism,” such as in Belarus, or on “preventing terrorism financing,” as in the case of Türkiye and Serbia. Kazakhstan, where such “transparency” regulation has so far been limited to a public registry of civic groups receiving foreign funding, risks further crackdowns on civic space by having entered this summer an agreement with Russian lawmakers to share legal norms on “countering foreign influence.”

The effects of these repressive laws are immediate and devastating. In every context, the passage of such laws has been accompanied by lengthy and relentless smear campaigns against civil society organizations and activists in pro-government media, vilifying them as “agents of foreign influence,” “servants of foreign masters,” and other derogatory labels. Despite governments’ assurances of good intentions, the onerous and discriminatory reporting requirements divert already limited resources away from civic groups’ public interest work and forces them to put large amounts of of money into compliance. The disparaging labels fuel polarizing “us vs. them” rhetoric that is harmful to societies. They also isolate civil society groups as outcasts, impeding their ability to connect with ordinary people whom they serve, or form partnerships with businesses and municipalities, who fear retribution from the national authorities. When used to target independent media outlets and journalists, such laws lead journalists to self-censor and stigmatize the act of speaking with journalists, causing would-be sources to shun conversations for fear of legal repercussions. Similarly, such legislation functionally neuters independent outlets’ advertisement-based revenue models, as potential advertisement buyers are wont to be associated with alleged “foreign agents.” 

These so-called “transparency of foreign influence” laws are designed to undermine political pluralism, ostracize independent thinking, stigmatize and ultimately decimate organized civil society, and dissuade donor investment, including from in-country supporters, business, and local governments. The destructive effects of the notorious Russian legislation, which started a repressive sequence that has brutally impacted the civil society sector, should serve as bleak warning of what is to come in other countries where governments abuse the rule of law to quell diversity of thought under the guise of curbing “foreign influence.”

Freedom House calls on OSCE ODIHR to:

• Thoroughly examine the growing practice among the participating States of misusing legislative authority to vilify civil society organizations through disparaging labeling, excessive financial controls, and onerous reporting requirements.

• Develop and/or update best practices and recommendations for participating States to design regulatory and reporting mechanisms that can achieve an adequate level of transparency of CSO funding without undermining the freedoms of association and expression, and other fundamental rights and freedoms, guaranteed by international human rights law.

• Where regulation of foreign influence through new legislation is objectively warranted, policymakers must recognize that overbreadth and ambiguity provides fertile ground for abuse; therefore, OSCE ODIHR could develop targeted legal definitions of “foreign agent,” “foreign principal,” “request,” and other legislative terms for participating States to consider.

Freedom House calls on OSCE participating States to:

• Conduct thorough policy review and stakeholder analysis to properly target legislation that addresses legitimate threats such as election disinformation, lobbying, and corruption. Prior to adoption, consult with civil society on and conduct impact assessments of any laws intended to ensure national security/sovereignty, counter terrorism and violent extremism.

• Request and heed expert opinions of OSCE ODIHR and other international bodies, such as the Venice Commission and the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, on best practices in regulating nonprofit and media organizations with important safeguards for freedoms of association, expression, and assembly.

• Commit to refraining from using vilifying and denigrating rhetoric targeting government critics and to promoting civil and respectful public discourse. Relatedly, abstain from weaponizing ambiguities in existing transparency laws to target nonprofits, media, and activists.

• Publicly emphasize the value and positive impact of essential services provided by civil society, noting that restrictive legislation risks depriving vulnerable communities and the general public of services they have come to depend on.

• Enable and support the development of pluralistic independent media to stimulate well-informed public debate on issues of public concern and minimize the gaps in information that spur conspiracy theories and polarizing rhetoric about external influence on national affairs.

 

Azerbaijan: Condemning the Forced Displacement of Ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 

Plenary Session VIII: Tolerance and Non-discrimination I 

Freedom House calls the attention of the OSCE ODIHR and participating States to the treatment of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, whereby they were intentionally subjected to years of regular attacks, intimidation, deprivation of basic rights, and ultimately forced displacement by the Azerbaijani state in September 2023. The process was both gradual and methodical, and the Azerbaijani state intentionally created conditions for the ethnic Armenian population that made it impossible for them to stay and survive in Nagorno-Karabakh.

These conclusions are the result of an intensive international fact-finding effort by Freedom House, International Partnership for Human Rights, Democracy Development Foundation, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly – Vanadzor, Protection of Rights without Borders NGO, Law Development and Protections Foundation, and Truth Hounds. This factfinding, which included hundreds of witness interviews and analysis of open-source data, concludes that the Azerbaijani state acted upon a comprehensive, methodically implemented strategy to empty Nagorno-Karabakh of its ethnic Armenian population and historical and cultural presence. An analysis of the actions and rhetoric of Azerbaijani authorities in conjunction with the lived experiences of the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh provides reasonable grounds to conclude that their forced displacement was intentional.  Persistent defiance against international norms and continued violations, despite international condemnations, also indicate the premeditated intent of the Azerbaijani government to displace the ethnic Armenian population.

Our fact-finding effort concludes that the documented actions of the Azerbaijani state meet the criteria for ethnic cleansing as understood in the context of the UN Commission of Experts’ analysis on IHL violations in the former Yugoslavia. We have documented extrajudicial executions, torture, arbitrary arrests and detention, restrictions on the access to food and life-saving medication, forcible removal, displacement and deportation of civilian population, deliberate military attacks or threats of attacks on civilians and civilian areas, and wanton destruction of property. The fact-finding mission has determined that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that these practices constitute crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, including Article 7 (crimes against humanity), and Article 8 (war crimes), and align with the definition of deportation or forcible transfer of population.

Our evidence, coupled with the lack of prosecution on the national level in Azerbaijan, underscore the urgent need for additional international legal scrutiny and accountability. Freedom House recommends that the ICC ensure a thorough investigation and potential prosecution of those responsible for these egregious acts. In addition:

Freedom House calls on OSCE participating States to:

• Invoke the Moscow Mechanism to investigate violations committed against ethnic Armenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh by the Azerbaijani state.

• Advocate within the UN Human Rights Council for the establishment of a country mechanism and a Special Procedure on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan to investigate systemic human rights violations and report them to the Human Rights Council, General Assembly, and other UN bodies.

• Support international efforts to prosecute crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against the ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, including for states party to the Rome Statute to make a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate these violations, as well as implementing and supporting targeted sanctions.

• Call upon the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan to:

• Provide secure access to Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh to visit their homes and collect their belongings, as well as to uphold the right to return for Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh under international observations.

• Provide access to international monitoring initiatives to investigate the state of cultural monuments in Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories.

• Abstain from violence-inducing rhetoric against Armenians.

Freedom House calls on OSCE ODIHR to:

• Encourage and facilitate comprehensive documentation and reporting of human rights abuses committed by Azerbaijan, ensuring that all violations are systematically recorded and analyzed for future accountability efforts.

 

Armenia: Additional Efforts Needed to Combat Gender-Based Violence  

Plenary Session X: Tolerance and Non-Discrimination III 

Since 2018, the Armenian people and the Government of Armenia have endeavored to advance democratic reforms, persisting through internal and external obstacles, including ongoing threats to national security and the forced displacement of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan in 2023. While acknowledging these challenges, Freedom House urges the Armenian government to continue to work closely with civil society and create opportunities to collectively address lingering issues of discrimination, gender equality, and gender-based violence.

Freedom House applauds the strides that Armenia has made toward promoting gender equality and non-discrimination over the past year, including: the introduction of new draft legislation focused on anti-discrimination, titled the Law on Ensuring Equality and Protection Against Discrimination; a comprehensive set of amendments to the Law on Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence, Protection of Persons Subjected to Family and Domestic Violence and Restoration of Family Solidarity; and sweeping institutional initiatives, such as the introduction of the Gender Equality Seal within the Office of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, enabling gender equality issues to be more clearly addressed within public institutions.

Despite these advancements, challenges remain. The rights of women and LGBTQI+ people have suffered coordinated attacks, from both internal and external factors including conservative, Russian-backed disinformation and propped up by domestic extremist groups. These actors continuously manipulate gender-related issues as a way to instead undermine support for equal treatment and protection from violence, sow distrust towards the West, and decrease support for ratifying the Istanbul Convention. The Armenian government has made little effort to draw on the lived experience of women or LGBTQI+ people to develop national policies affecting these groups. The equality draft law’s current omission of specific protected grounds such as gender identity and sexual orientation raises concerns about the law’s ability to provide effective legal protection for vulnerable groups. Moreover, the lack of participation from vulnerable groups in policymaking to counter disinformation highlights the government’s disregard for a whole-of-society approach and its failure to build nationwide resilience against disinformation in the country.

In the midst of internal and external challenges, Freedom House urges Armenian authorities to prioritize the implementation of anti-discrimination and gender-based violence prevention policies. Domestic violence remains widespread in Armenia with over 700 cases reported each year, and women’s organizations' hotlines receiving some 3,000 calls per year. Alongside legislation, there is a need for better support services, effective public awareness campaigns, civic education, and other long-term actions to reinforce these legal frameworks. Additionally, the ongoing security crisis has heightened vulnerabilities for women, particularly in conflict-affected areas and among the forcibly displaced populations from Nagorno-Karabakh. Domestic violence, which disproportionately impacts women, tends to increase during and after wartime due to rising stress levels, loss of income, family displacement, and the return of traumatized soldiers, which disrupts family dynamics. Women, often in caregiving roles, bear the brunt of responsibilities such as raising children and caring for the elderly, placing them in a particularly vulnerable position. This underscores the urgent need for policy measures, coordinated with Armenian civil society, that offer services and support to victims of violence in Armenia and prevent future instances of gender-based violence.

Freedom House calls on the Armenian government to:

• Implement and enforce comprehensive anti-discrimination laws to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, and to prevent and address violence against women, LGBTQI+ individuals, and other marginalized populations.

• Implement the UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which emphasizes the crucial role of women in preventing and resolving conflicts, as well as in peacekeeping, peacebuilding, peace negotiations, humanitarian response, and post-conflict reconstruction.

• In consultation with civil society, implement policy measures that offer services and support to victims of domestic violence and marginalized communities that have experienced violence in Armenia.

• Ensure and increase the participation and leadership of women and representatives of marginalized communities in decision-making processes and policymaking.

• Support the enhanced involvement of women in peace negotiations and peacebuilding efforts.

• Collaborate with civil society and ensure that gender equality and non-discrimination remain central priorities on governmental agenda and in reform processes.

• Continue the ratification efforts of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (“Istanbul Convention”) and engage in dialogue with civil society, relevant stakeholders, and broader public on the process of its ratification.

• Advocate for gender-sensitive reporting practices in public media and actively encourage other media outlets to adopt similar standards through media self-regulation.

Freedom House calls on OSCE participating States and OSCE institutions to:

• Provide continued and increased support for Armenia’s initiatives to advance gender equality and combat violence against women.

• Keep gender equality and non-discrimination prominent in efforts supporting Armenia’s democratic reform agenda.

• Support efforts to strengthen the capacity of Armenian governmental institutions, civil society, and media to address gender issues through financial, technical, and legal aid.

• Provide technical assistance to the Armenian government to facilitate the adoption, ratification, monitoring, and implementation of international legal frameworks on gender equality, offering recommendations and interventions when necessary.

• Support capacity building for journalists and other media workers to better report on human rights issues in a gender-sensitive and trauma-sensitive way, especially when reporting on acts of violence targeting women and LGBTQI+ people.

• Advocate for the integration of human rights and gender-sensitive standards into Armenia's national policies and regulations, providing expertise in policy drafting to support advocacy campaigns for lasting impact.