EU Statement in response to the Report of ODIHR Director, Maria Telalian, OSCE Permanent Council No. 1583 - Vienna, 29 October 2026

1. The European Union cordially welcomes ODIHR’s Director, Maria Telalian, back to the Permanent Council and thanks her for her concise report focused on key priorities and core implications.

2. We express EU’s continuous and firm support to ODIHR’s activities, autonomy and mandate for the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and human rights in the OSCE. 

3. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine remains a devastating toll on human life. We recall that Russia has escalated its large-scale, deliberate and systematic missile and drone attacks against Ukraine’s civilians and civilian infrastructure.

4. In this regard, the EU commends ODIHR’s work on the Ukraine Human Rights Monitoring Initiative and thanks for the 9^th Interim Report which documents and confirms Russia’s large-scale, coordinated air strikes on urban areas; unlawful conscription and forced mobilization of Ukrainian citizens into Russia’s armed forces; continuous pattern of physical and psychological abuse, intimidation, and coercion against Ukrainian POWs and detained civilians; suppression of Ukrainian identity in the temporary occupied Ukrainian territories.

5. We thank ODIHR for providing technical and administrative assistance to the expert mission under the Moscow Mechanism invoked in May 2026 on the indoctrination and militarisation of Ukrainian children by Russia. The EU underlines its commitment to ensuring full accountability, according to ODIHR and many other independent actors, Russia’s crimes may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

6. The EU highly values ODIHR’s assistance to the OSCE Swiss Chairpersonship in organising the 2026 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference. As you underlined, Director Telalian, the readiness to engage in dialogue by representatives of participating States, civil society organisations and international stakeholders on key human dimension questions remains central when reviewing the implementation of our shared commitments.

7. In this context, we thank ODIHR as well as the Swiss Chairpersonship for expressing strong condemnation of the reprisals and intimidation of Georgian civil society members attending the Conference by the Georgian authorities and reiterate the importance of ensuring safe participation in OSCE events.

8. Director Telalian, the EU joins you in calling on all participating States to observe their commitments in the human dimension including an agreement to hold a Human Dimension Implementation Meeting annually. We also reaffirm our full trust in Poland as the host country of ODIHR and its events and reject any suggestions to relocate the seat of ODIHR from Warsaw. 

9. The EU reiterates its support for ODIHR’s established election observation methodology. We underline ODIHR’s election observation missions provide a comprehensive, objective, and fact-based assessment of the entire electoral cycle, with recommendations serving as catalyst for electoral reform and enhancing public trust in elections in the participating States. In this context, we regret that not all participating States honour their commitment to invite ODIHR to observe the elections. 

10. We recognise ODIHR's unique mandate and specialised expertise across the human dimension, including in legislative assistance, democratic governance, human rights and election observation. We encourage close co-operation across the OSCE, while fully respecting ODIHR's institutional autonomy and mandate.

11. The EU stresses that continued budgetary constraints and reductions risk undermining ODIHR's ability to fulfil its mandate. Therefore, we call for a sustainable and adequate budget that preserves ODIHR's operational capacity, expertise and institutional independence.

12. In closing, we wish Director Telalian and her dedicated team every success in their future work.

Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, San Marino, and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.