Ambassador Neil Holland thanks the three OSCE Committee chairs for their work to uphold OSCE principles and commitments.
Thank you, Chair, and thank you Peter, Florian, and Anne-Marie. Yesterday's FSC-PC demonstrated why the Helsinki Decalogue remains valid, important, and relevant for the security of our region. During the past year, you have kept our shared OSCE principles and commitments at the centre of our work across the three Committees. We are grateful for this, and for your leadership.
Harold Wilson, then British Prime Minister, said in his speech to the 1975 Helsinki Conference that the Final Act would mean little if it were "not reflected in the daily lives of our people". Citizens across our OSCE region face increasingly complex threats to their security. None more so than the brave Ukrainians who continue to defend their country with courage and determination.
Dear Peter, the Security Committee meetings this year have continued to demonstrate that transnational threats are an important part of the OSCE's comprehensive concept of security. We must increase our vigilance of and resilience against the evolving threats landscape in the coming year, including the increasingly complex threats from state and state-backed actors.
Dear Florian, you continued the good work of previous years by keeping the Economic and Environmental Committee's work focussed on the damage that Russia's war against Ukraine is doing in these areas, rightly adapting to reflect Russia's escalating attacks on Ukraine's critical civilian infrastructure. We look forward to working with the new chair of the Committee in addressing the most pressing economic and environmental issues facing our region.
Dear Anne-Marie, 2024 has been an important year for human rights and fundamental freedoms, not least for our shared commitment to hold free elections at reasonable intervals and under conditions which ensure citizens have the right to express their opinion freely. We regret that not all participating States met this standard. At a time of democratic backsliding and growing repression in many countries, we must stand firmly behind the OSCE's human dimension commitments, the autonomous institutions, and the Final Act.
To our Secretariat, autonomous institution and field mission colleagues who have supported the 2024 programmes of work, we thank you.
And lastly, to our Maltese Chairpersonship, who have exemplified multilateralism and stepped up to lead when we needed you. Under your leadership, our Committees and OSCE staff continue their important technical implementation of the shared commitments that keep our citizens safer. The UK will continue to uphold these commitments and principles in the years to come.
Thank you.
