embassy events 2009

U.S. Delegation to 2009 OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw

30 September 2009
 

US Mission to the OSCE Chargé Carol Fuller, Ambassador John Kornblum, and Dr. Michael Haltzel at the U.S.-sponsored HDIM side event on “The Role of the Human Dimension in European Security Architecture.”

Dr. Michael Haltzel will lead the U.S. delegation to the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) organized jointly by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Greek Chairmanship of the OSCE in Warsaw, Poland, September 28 – October 9, 2009. ODIHR’s annual HDIM is the OSCE region’s most important human rights event of the year. The U.S. delegation also includes Chargé d’Affaires Carol Fuller, U.S. Permanent Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Department of State. More than 30 U.S. officials and private sector representatives will attend the HDIM. “Just as all participating States have an obligation to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of their own citizens, it is the responsibility of others to speak out when they believe those obligations are not being fulfilled,” Dr. Haltzel remarked during his Opening Plenary statement on September 28.

In the HDIM, representatives of government and civil society come together to evaluate the implementation of human dimension commitments by the 56 participating States of the OSCE and to review the procedures and mechanisms for monitoring and enhancing compliance with these commitments. The event serves as a forum to bring together hundreds of government representatives, human rights activists, and international experts.
Key Members of the U.S. Delegation to the HDIM, Sept. 28 – Oct. 9 in Warsaw
-- Dr. Michael Haltzel, (Delegation Head)
-- Chargé d’Affaires Carol Fuller, U.S. Permanent Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
-- Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State
-- Bruce Turner, Director of European Security and Political Affairs, U.S. Department of State
-- Leonard Leo, Chair, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
-- Fred Turner, Chief of Staff of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission)

Dr. Michael Haltzel is Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. Dr. Haltzel capped a distinguished career in public service as senior foreign policy advisor (1994-2005) to Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-Delaware), Ranking Member (Chairman 2001-03) of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and as Democratic Staff Director of the Subcommittee on European Affairs of the Committee. He was the lead Democratic Senate staffer on NATO and Balkan policy and, as such, was deeply involved in two rounds of NATO enlargement (1998; 2004) and in the Bosnia and Kosovo campaigns. Dr. Haltzel went to the Senate in 1994 from the Library of Congress, where he was Chief of the European Division. From 1985 to 1992, he served as Director of West European Studies of the Woodrow Wilson Center at the Smithsonian Institution. He previously taught Russian and German History at Hamilton College (New York) and was Vice President for Academic Affairs at Longwood College (Virginia). 

In 1990, Dr. Haltzel was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Copenhagen CSCE Conference; in 1991 a Guest Professor at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (Ebenhausen, Germany); in September 1996 an OSCE monitor for the first post-war elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and in July 2004 a member of the U.S. delegation to the inauguration of Serbian President Boris Tadić. The author, coauthor, editor or coeditor of ten books, he is a frequent contributor to American and European print and electronic publications and has spoken to audiences such as the Assemblée Nationale in Paris, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Copenhagen (2005), Deutscher Bundestag in Berlin (2006), and the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna (2009). Dr. Haltzel received a B.A. magna cum laude with honors in history from Yale, an M.A. in Soviet Studies, and a Ph.D. in history, both from Harvard, and also studied in Berlin, Marburg and Helsinki.  He speaks German and Russian.
For information about the HDIM.
For information about the U.S. Mission to the OSCE.
For information about the U.S. delegation at the HDIM, please contact: Steven Labensky, Public Affairs Adviser at the U.S. Mission to the OSCE: Tel. (+43-1) 31339-3421, E-mail:labenskysj@state.gov