OSCE Parallel Civil Society Conference 2016

The OSCE-wide NGO-network Civic Solidarity Platform (CSP) will hold its annual OSCE Parallel Civil Society Conference 2016 in Hamburg on 6 and 7 December 2016.

At the conference, civil society representatives from throughout the OSCE region will discuss urgent human dimension issues and their impact on the OSCE comprehensive security concept.

The outcome documents of the conference – the Civil Society Recommendations to the OSCE Ministerial Council as well as the ‘Hamburg Declaration on Protecting Civil Society Space’ – will be handed over to OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, First Deputy Director Katarzyna Jarosiewicz-Wargan of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.

The opening as well as closing sessions will be open to the media and OSCE Delegations upon showing OSCE accreditation and/or press identification at the registration desk:

Opening session: Tuesday, 6 December 2016 from 10.00 – 10.30

Closing session: Wednesday, 7 December 2016 from 16.15 – 18.00

The conference sessions include topics such as migration/ refugees, shrinking civil society space, protection of human rights defenders, prevention of torture and enforced disappearances, freedom of expression as well as human rights and security.

The event is supported by the German OSCE Chairmanship as well as the governments of Liechtenstein, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Please be informed that the Civic Solidarity Platform will also host an event ‘The Civic Solidarity Platform Meets the OSCE: Space for Civil Society and Human Dimension Recommendations’ in the so called ‘mixed zone’ of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting at Hamburg Messe (Hall A3, Live discussion area) on Thursday, 8 December 2016  from 15:10 to 15:55. NGOs, media representatives as well as OSCE Delegations with accreditation to the OSCE Ministerial Council will be able to participate in the event.

For more information, please read the annex below and visit our website or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Please find the programme of the OSCE Parallel Civil Society Conference enclosed.

The Civic Solidarity Platform currently consists of 85 member organizations from 27 countries within the OSCE region.