MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. Russia believes it is important to hammer out the commitments of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on public access to information against the backdrop of the West’s attempts to forget about that principle, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in his video address to the participants in the OSCE Ministerial Council conference.
Russia’s top diplomat stressed that citizens' social and economic rights and the realization of the right to development were acquiring special significance. According to Lavrov, the human rights dimension requires an unbiased approach.
At the same time, an increasing intolerance towards alternative viewpoints reflecting the truth is observed in a number of the organization’s member countries, Lavrov went on to say. "Not only traditional censorship, but also the technical capabilities of social networks and tech giants are used against undesirable information resources and dissidents," he stressed.
"We are in favor of hammering out the OSCE's commitments in the field of public access to information. This principle was proclaimed in the early 1990s, and now our Western colleagues would like it to sink into oblivion," the minister said.
Referring to social rights, Lavrov expressed profound concern about the plight of the Russian-speaking population in the Baltic countries and Ukraine. He also drew attention to the Ministerial Council’s instruction in Basil in 2014 on passing declarations in support of Christians and Muslims, which has not been implemented to date, mentioned the "Yellow Vests" protests in France, the intensification of interreligious tensions in the world and racial unrest the United States. According to Russia’s top diplomat, all that confirms that acute problems related to respect for human rights cannot be sought only "east of Vienna.".