Poland in the OSCE

At the Permanent Council meeting 41 OSCE participating States*, including Poland, invoked the Vienna Mechanism. The purpose of activating the procedure is to confront Russian institutions with the concerns expressed by OSCE participating States regarding Russia's human rights record, as well as to generate discussion on the implementation of human dimension obligations by Russia.

The OSCE Vienna Mechanism, dating back to 1989, is one of the OSCE's tools for the exchange of information on issues related to the human dimension of the Organisation. Its activation does not require consensus (unanimity). The Vienna Mechanism was triggered a dozen times so far, including e.g. by Russia in 1992 in relation to Estonian citizenship legislation. The United Kingdom triggered the mechanism recently in 2021, together with 34 participating States, with regard to the human rights situation in Belarus.

*Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America