A. The main foundations 1. Human rights and the OSCE’s comprehensive concept of security The OSCE was created as a security organization. However, it does not deal exclusively with issues of military security, disarmament, or border issues. Based on a broad concept of security, it deals equally with human rights. The OSCE considers security to be more than merely the absence of war. Instead, it was the intention of the OSCE participating States to create a comprehensive framework for peace and stability in Europe. The Helsinki Final Act acknowledges as one of its ten guiding principles the “respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief”. This constitutes a milestone in the history of human rights protection. For the first time, human rights principles were included as an explicit and integral element of a regional security framework, on the same basis as politico-military and economic issues. This acknowledgement has been reinforced by numerous follow-up documents. It is therefore now well established and beyond question. There is no hierarchy among these principles, and no government can claim that they have to establish political or economic security before addressing human rights and democracy. Recent history proves the validity of the OSCE concept that a free society allowing everyone to fully participate in public life is a safeguard against conflict and instability. For example, the exclusion of individuals or certain groups from society, sometimes on ethnic grounds, has led to tensions and even armed conflict. The impact of refugee crises on security, often as a result of massive human rights abuses, is another example. In OSCE terminology, the term “human dimension” is used to describe the set of norms and activities related to human rights, democracy and the rule of law, which is regarded within the OSCE as one of three dimensions of security, together with the politico-military, and the economic and environmental dimensions. The term also indicates that the OSCE norms in this field cover a wider area than traditional human rights law. 2. The OSCE “process” Since its beginnings, the OSCE has followed a “process” approach. The Helsinki Final Act provides for regular follow-up conferences and meetings. This is very important for understanding the OSCE human rights framework. First, it means that there is a forum for discussing the implementation of the standards agreed in previous meetings. Second, it has led to a set of successive OSCE documents specifying and elaborating the human dimension commitments adopted in past documents. As a result, the OSCE has developed a very flexible and dynamic norm-creating process in the human rights field, a process that is ongoing. Among the innovations adopted in recent years are, for example, the acknowledgement of trafficking in human beings, previously treated most often in an organized-crime context, as a human rights concern, and the recognition of hate crimes as a potential threat to domestic and international security. xvi