The OSCE and its 56 participating States need to do more to close the widening gap between human rights defenders and governmental authorities. The human dimension needs to be given more, and not less, attention. Participating States need to focus more, and not less, on implementation deficiencies. An important part of our work is to bring together representatives of governments and of non-governmental organizations to discuss human dimension issues on an equal footing. This is particularly true of the yearly Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, which was held for the 11th time in 2006. For the first time, the number of participants exceeded 1,000, including representatives from 324 nongovernmental organizations. It is not called an implementation meeting without a reason. The commitments to protect and promote human rights, democracy, and the rule of law are not worth much if they are not implemented. This responsibility lies with the states, whereas our Office’s role is to assist them with implementation, and to monitor their compliance with the commitments. We do this through our five programmes: Elections, Democratization, Human Rights, Tolerance and Non-discrimination, and the Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues. As Europe’s leading election observation agency, the ODIHR had a busy schedule in 2006, with 15 observation and assessment missions, deploying over 2,700 election observers across the OSCE region. In addition to monitoring elections in the newer democracies in the region, the ODIHR continued to follow elections in long-standing democracies, such as Italy, the United States, and the Netherlands. In 2007, the ODIHR will maintain its approach to human dimension issues with a combination of constructive monitoring and assistance to help remedy shortfalls. We will further develop our election-related activities, building on the achievements already made in 2006. We will continue to monitor and report on hate-motivated incidents and to support efforts to strengthen human rights and democracy in our region. This annual report provides insights into the scope and impact of our activities. Taken together with our publications and website, it should be seen as an invitation for feedback, as well as for follow-up action by government authorities. I wish to thank our partners throughout the OSCE region, including OSCE field missions and institutions and other international organizations, for their continued support and cooperation. I thank the Belgian Chairmanship for their unwavering support throughout the year. I express my admiration for those men and women who defend the human rights of others, all too often at personal risk, being harassed by some governments in contravention of basic OSCE principles. And my warmest thanks go again to the dedicated staff of the ODIHR. Ambassador Christian Strohal ODIHR Director Annual Report  5