U.S. Department of State

Ambassador David Johnson will lead the U.S. delegation to the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), to be held in Warsaw, Poland, September 26 to October 7. The delegation will deliver the United States’ positions on the state of implementation of OSCE’s human dimension commitments. They will engage with delegations of other participating States and a range of NGOs and civil society organizations.

The Warsaw HDIM is the OSCE region’s most important human rights event of the year, bringing together hundreds of government representatives, human rights activists, and international experts. HDIM participants will evaluate the implementation of human dimension commitments by the 56 participating States of the OSCE and review the procedures and mechanisms for monitoring and enhancing compliance with these commitments.

This year, the HDIM will feature three special topics as they apply to OSCE participating States for comment and consideration: elections and elections observation, freedom of movement and internal migration, and the status of Roma and Sinti peoples. In addition, at this year’s HDIM, the United States looks forward to addressing the applicability of fundamental freedoms recognized by OSCE participating States to powerful new digital media and the online world in general.

Key Members of the U.S. Delegation to the Warsaw Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, September 26 – October 8:

• Ambassador David Johnson, Delegation Head
• Ambassador Ian Kelly, U.S. Representative to the OSCE, U.S. Mission to the OSCE in Vienna, Austria
• Ambassador Cynthia Efird, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission), Washington, D.C.
• Ambassador Suzan Johnson Cook, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Washington, D.C.
• Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Thomas Melia, Washington, D.C.
• Patrick Merloe, National Democratic Institute, public member
• Kathleen Newland, Migration Policy Institute, public member
• Ethel Brooks, Rutgers University, public member

For information about the Warsaw HDIM:http://www.osce.org/event/hdim_2011.

For information about the U.S. Mission to the OSCE: http://osce.usmission.gov .

For information about the U.S. delegation at the Warsaw HDIM, please contact: Christopher Midura, Counselor for Public Affairs, U.S. Mission to the OSCE at: midurac@state.gov.