OSCE CiO Warsaw Human Dimension Conference Warsaw, 30 September - 11 October 2024

1. Pluralistic democracy and the rule of law remain indispensable for ensuring respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, as laid down in the 1990 Copenhagen commitments. Nevertheless, democracy cannot be taken for granted and requires constant vigilance, in particular in times of polarisation and conflict.
2. The European Union is fully committed to supporting democratic standards and respect for rule of law, as well as human rights' protection mechanisms.
3. In 2024, millions of people across the OSCE region have been electing their representatives. In many countries citizens encounter attempts to undermine the democratic process, including disinformation or foreign interference.
4. Following Russia's continued unprovoked, unjustifiable and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, malign foreign actors have further increased their information manipulation operations. Through hybrid and cyberattacks across the OSCE area, Russia is trying to shape a parallel reality.
5. These malign activities pose a serious security threat and we need to address it by strengthening resilience of both the democratic institutions and our societies. We must protect our democratic processes as credible elections are at the heart of democratic societies and constitute the backbone of our democracies.
6. The EU reiterates that the protection of electoral integrity, i.e. ensuring that elections - and the institutions, norms, principles, and processes underpinning them - reflect the will of all people, is at the heart of vibrant democracies.
7. One essential pillar of democracy consists of active civil society and civil society organisations. The involvement of civil society organizations and citizen election
8. observer groupsnot only reflects the needs of citizens in decision-making processes, but also increases the legitimacy of election results.
9. The EU regrets that civic space, including the role of CSOs are increasingly restricted in many OSCE participating States, in particular those advocating and defending the rights and freedoms of others. Many CSOs present today at the WHDC have been facing continuous restriction, often escalating to different forms of harassment, including threats and attacks both, online and offline, as well as punitive legal action by governments, including fines, restricted ability to travel and detention.
10. In line with OSCE commitments and standards for democratic elections the OSCE participating States need to ensure transparent and regular dialogue with civil society and guarantee equal opportunities for all citizens to participate in elections.
11. The EU highly values the independent and professional expert guidance of ODIHR and its work on election observation. We fully support the mandate of this autonomous institution, which is exercised in a transparent and impartial manner.We reiterate that ODIHR needs to be adequately staffed and resourced in order to carry out its vital work in accordance with its mandate. We will continue to firmly support ODIHR's activities, autonomy and mandate for the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and human rights in the OSCE area.

Recommendations:

• Invite all OSCE participating States to strengthen direct citizens consultations and systematic engagement on pertinent issues in order to match with citizens' priorities and proposals; strengthening democratic participation and inclusion;
• Encourage all OSCE participating States to foster the development of independent and pluralistic media as well as digital and media literacy among citizens to strengthen overall societal resilience disinformation and to foreign information manipulation and interference;

The Candidate Countries NORTH MACEDONIA*, MONTENEGRO*, ALBANIA*, UKRAINE, the REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA, BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA*, and GEORGIA, and the EFTA countries ICELAND, LIECHTENSTEIN and NORWAY, members of the European Economic Area, as well as ANDORRA and SAN MARINO align themselves with this statement.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.