INTRODUCTION “It was particularly gratifying for me to note the Committee’s citation, which emphasizes the defense of human rights as the only sure basis for genuine and lasting international cooperation … I am convinced that international confidence, mutual understanding, disarmament, and international security are inconceivable without an open society with freedom of information, freedom of conscience, the right to publish, and the right to travel and choose the country in which one wishes to live.” (Andrei Sakharov, 1975) 2 In the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the participating States of what was then the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) recognized the right of everyone to know and act upon their rights, and later the right of the individual to seek and receive assistance from others in defending human rights and to assist others in defending human rights.3 In the context of the drafting of the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, they also emphasized the need for the protection of human rights defenders (Budapest Document 1994). Thus, the right to defend human rights as recognized in the UN Declaration is firmly established in OSCE commitments. The present guidelines are based on OSCE commitments and universally recognized human rights standards that OSCE participating States have undertaken to adhere to. The guidelines are informed by key international instruments relevant to the protection of human rights defenders, in particular the UN Declaration mentioned above. The guidelines do not set new standards or seek to create “special” rights for human rights defenders but concentrate on the protection of the human rights of those who are at risk as a result of their human rights work. As such, the guidelines aim to contribute to promoting equal protection of human rights for all. OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY These guidelines build on the longstanding engagement of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) with human rights defenders, and their situation and the environment in which they operate have been a focus of the work of the Office in the past.4 In line with ODIHR’s mandate, these guidelines aim to support participating States in the implementation of their human dimension commitments 2  Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1975. 3  Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, 1990. 4  Apart from its publications on a variety of related topics, ODIHR has published two specific reports on the situation of human rights defenders: “Human Rights Defenders in the OSCE Region: Our Collective Conscience”, 10 December 2007, <http://www.osce.org/odihr/29714>; and “Human Rights Defenders in the OSCE Region: Challenges and Good Practices”; 15 December 2008, <http://www.osce.org/odihr/35652>. Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders xi