Compendium of Standards, Good Practices and Recommendations In Copenhagen in 1990, the participating States declared their commitment to provide effective remedies for human rights abuses and complaints. Remedies enable members of the armed forces to utilize, in a practical way, the commitments of states to uphold human rights norms. A remedy is effective if it allows for an independent inquiry into alleged human rights abuses and an impartial determination of whether a violation has occurred, and if it provides a means to obtain sufficient redress for the alleged victim. Box 2.1 highlights some of the key features of effective remedies for violations of human rights contained in the 1990 Copenhagen Document. Where no remedy, or an insufficiently effective one, is provided at the national level, recourse may be had to individual complaint mechanisms at the international level. OSCE human rights commitments do not themselves provide for complaint mechanisms, but complaints mechanisms are available under various UN and regional human rights treaties to which OSCE participating States are parties. These treaties are discussed in “Chapter 3: International Human Rights Law”. OSCE participating States have agreed that any limitations on human rights must be provided for by law and must be consistent with other international obligations (Copenhagen 1990). Much like as required in the international human rights treaties, any restrictions on human rights should be exceptional, applied consistently and strictly proportionate to the aim of the law. OSCE Monitoring and Implementation Mechanisms OSCE participating States have consistently reaffirmed that, since the protection of human rights is a pillar of the international order, recognition of human rights is not the internal preserve of individual states. Rather, states are accountable to their citizens and to each other for the implementation of their commitments. In Moscow in 1991, the participating States affirmed categorically and irrevocably that matters within the human dimension of the OSCE were of “direct and legitimate concern to all participating States”. Various OSCE bodies are engaged in monitoring the implementation of human dimension commitments, including ODIHR and the OSCE’s Representative on Freedom of the Media. Participating States are ultimately responsible for implementing their commitments, however, and also engage in peer review on the implementation of commitments in their fellow participating States. 29