Political Quotes

“I rise to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's--OSCE--Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights-- ODIHR--one of the world's most preeminent and comprehensive human rights protection bodies. In 1990-1991, during the signing of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe that created ODIHR, a spirit of ``profound change and historic expectations'' prevailed among the United States, nations of Europe, and the Soviet Union. Revolutionary for their time, heads of state and governments resolved to ``build, consolidate and strengthen democracy as the only system of government of our nations.'' Further, by affirming that government's first responsibility is to ensure the ``protection and promotion of human rights,'' they explicitly linked the full attainment of those rights with ``the foundation of freedom, justice and peace'' and set the standard for relations and security within and among nations. Now, 30 years later, I am deeply concerned that the fundamental freedoms that ODIHR was founded to safeguard are in peril. Authoritarianism is on the rise in Europe. Credible reports allege there are more than 750 political prisoners in Belarus, many detained for participating peacefully in protest of the fraudulent elections of August 2020 and the brutal government crackdown that followed.…”