Chief among these are the implementation of meaningful reforms in respect of supporting ethnic and cultural minorities within their borders (including their right to political representation), guaranteeing the rights of their citizens to freely express themselves and to meet and join with others in the struggle for human rights (free from persecution, torture or criminalisation), protecting the physical and psychological integrity of IDPs, promoting equality of rights and opportunities between men and women, as well as combating discrimination and gender-based violence, and ensuring the right of their citizen to receive a fair trial hearing in the event of being brought to trial.

‘As the OSCE’s Annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting draws to a close today, KHRP call on the governments of Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan to work in concert with the participating states of the OSCE to fulfil their as yet still unresolved OSCE obligations,’ said KHRP Chief Executive, Kerim Yildiz.  ‘While important progress in the protection of human rights has been made, it is imperative that these countries implement agreed reforms and step up the protection of the fundamental freedoms and human rights of the citizenry of these nations’.