At the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, Latvia highlights the importance of civil society for protecting the fundamental principles of democracy, media freedom and the rule of law

From 30 September to 11 October 2024, Warsaw is hosting the Human Dimension Conference organised by the Maltese Chairpersonship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

Latvia, in cooperation with the Baltic States, Nordic countries and other OSCE participating States, contributed to organising and supporting several thematic events and panel discussions during the first week of the conference. The events focused on current issues of the rule of law, human rights and political freedoms. With a view to strengthening the rules-based international order, particular attention was paid to crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, the situation of political prisoners in Belarus and Russia, as well as the topic of media freedom and safety of journalists in the OSCE region. A wide range of stakeholders representing international organisations, civil society and human rights institutions attended the thematic events and expressed their views.

Participation in the event was part of the public diplomacy programme in support of the lobby campaign of Latvia’s candidacy for the United Nations Security Council. The campaign under the motto of “Together for peace and resilience” aims at ensuring successful election of Latvia to the United Nations Security Council for the 2026–2027 term in the 2025 election, at which Latvia is running for an elected member’s seat for the first time. Membership of the UNSC will be a key instrument in pursuit and protection of Latvia’s foreign policy interests, as well as making it possible for Latvia to expand the scale of its international cooperation and thereby contributing to world peace and resilience. 

Background information

The annual Warsaw Human Dimension Conference is held to assess the implementation by countries of OSCE commitments in the human dimension of security. The conference is attended by national delegations, international organisations, civil society and human rights defenders.

Since the launch of Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, the official delegations of Russia and Belarus have not been taking part in the conference. Regardless of that, it is possible for the international community to learn from sources on the ground and prominent organisations about the current human rights situation in those countries. Russia’s accountability for violations of international humanitarian law is also being addressed on a regular basis.