Judicial Reform and Human Rights

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The United States would like to take this opportunity to express its appreciation of the work of the Chairmanship and of ODIHR [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights] in developing the topic of Judicial Systems and Human Rights for this year's annual seminar.

There were some noteworthy suggestions and aspects to the meeting. If you will permit me, I would like to highlight a few of them.

First, the United States welcomes the two new topics of the role of the judiciary in conflict resolution, and the judiciary vis-a-vis economic development. These were interesting ways to combine different areas of OSCE activities, and to show that indeed, the OSCE's three dimensions can and should complement each other.

In specific, with regard to the juncture on the economic and human dimensions, we would be interested in following up the suggestion that the OSCE should partner with the private sector to promote human rights.

We would add to this suggestion that the OSCE could be used as a platform for judiciary-to-judiciary connections in order to exchange information on issues such as business law or labor codes. This could provide a forum to exchange expertise on economic and judicial issues, while potentially also providing a forum for multi-cultural exchanges or trans-border cooperation.

The United States is also looking forward to follow-up discussions in the Judicial Seminar on the administration of justice.

In closing Mr. Chairman, let me say that the United States would again like to thank ODIHR for organizing this seminar. Independence of the judiciary is an indispensable building block of any democratic society. The principle of equal justice under the law is likewise indispensable to public confidence in the system. This should also mean that minorities, including Roma and Sinti, could fully participate in all levels of the judicial system.

Thank you.