The lack of investigation of reports of excessive use of force against those exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression creates a dangerous atmosphere of impunity, reads a joint statement issued by 39 OSCE countries.

The OSCE participating States issued the statement on respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in the participating States

“In Georgia, the lack of investigation of reports of excessive use of force against those exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression reflects the shrinking civic space for dissent and creates a dangerous atmosphere of impunity. In Serbia, police raids against civil society organisations, repeated incidents of violence surrounding the ongoing protests as well verbal attacks from leading politicians against media, academia and peaceful protestors contribute to a shrinking democratic space. We are deeply worried about this deliberate undermining of human rights and fundamental freedoms, which is too often enabled by measures under the guise of legality and accompanied by steps to undermine free media and civil society. In Georgia, legislative restrictions on civil society and media independence threaten to suffocate public dissent”, reads the statement.

The statement is signed by Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and Denmark.