OSCE was born in the midst of the Cold War as an intergovernmental organization dedicated to ensuring security. But OSCE’s concept of security goes far beyond common understanding of absence of war and conflict. It works using towards an overall stable framework for peace and stability which is truly meaningful for every human being living within OSCE borders. Human rights and freedoms are thus solely intertwined with all other issues more traditionally related to security and prevention of war. Human rights principles are included as a built in part of a regional security intergovernmental agreement, and not just as a side issue. Moreover, human rights agreed standards are set on the hierarchy of values and goals of the organization at the same level of military economic and strategic security and other issues. Recognizing that internal tensions over denied rights and freedoms are in most cases at the roots not just of internal but also of international instability and conflict, OSCE states emphatically that societies where individuals and groups are allowed to freely participate in public matters and to express themselves are societies more incline to stability and peace.

Thus, the "human dimension" of OSCE work the one relating most closely to democracy and human rights is one of the three equally important dimensions OSCE work is involved in, the other two being the political and military dimension and the economic and environmental dimension.

Governments wishing to joint or to continue being members of OSCE must pledge to abide by human rights standards and commitments as a precondition for their own inclusion in the organization. This clearly, although the mechanisms for creating consensus amongst OSCE states and to monitor respect of the obligations and commitments assumed is mostly of an intergovernmental nature, leads to a high political and strategic importance for human rights issues in the functioning of OSCE as a whole.

Thus OSCE mechanisms can also contribute to keep on track the evolution of specific human rights situations by creating pressure and giving assistance to governments in an often complementary manner to the functioning of other international monitoring mechanisms which may act on the same issues but within a different intergovernmental body to which States may also adhere. In other words, the specific ways in which SOCE and its mechanisms function may come to complete the way mechanisms of other intergovernmental organizations (for instance the Council of Europe, to which many OSCE States also adhere) function.

Within this framework, some specific human rights issues have assumed a more relevant degree of importance in the functioning of the organization.

In particular, issues relating to migration are important in the work of OSCE in terms of ensuring non discrimination of migrant workers and freedom from exploitation. It is important to stress that, due to the specific geographic composition for the OSCE group, issues relating to migration and others are at the forefront of dialogue amongst states, including, regulating it, ensuring non discrimination to foreign workers and generally ensuring an appropriate balance between legitimate concerns of receiving States in terms of regulation of immigrant flows and capacity to integrate migrant sin their territories and rights and needs of workers moving into other countries. Also important is the work of OSCE in the filed of creating and preserving measures to promote cultural diversity and protect migrant communities as well as other minorities in their legitimate aspiration to be integrated in mainstream society as well as maintaining their own cultures, languages and religion.

A specific attention by OSCE has been devoted especially in recent years to monitoring and fighting a pathological side-effect of certain migratory pattern, such as trafficking of human beings. OSCE for a have thus become important in negotiating commons strategies to combat and eradicate a most disturbing phenomenon which undermines human dignity and value.

Analysis provided by: Antonella C. Attardo PhD (History of Law), Italy.