Michael Georg Link is the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and in his speech has provided an overall framework of the work of OSCE in the Human Rights’ field.

Contrary to the Council of Europe, the OSCE does not rest upon binding agreements and for this reason has created three specialized bodies (agency for the freedom of the press, agency for national minorities and agency for human rights and election monitoring), who have to control the correct implementation of human rights.

According to the words of Mr. Link, “in the area of migration and refugees, especially, we have a lot of concern, and [we have] the impression [that] in many cases at many borders, especially the borders guards, prosecutors and state institutions, are not dealing with this situation in a human rights compliant way”.

In fact, although the OSCE cannot prescribe to States how many refugees they need to welcome, it has a key role in guaranteeing that refugees are treated in a human rights compliant way, even if they have to go back. The OSCE pays a special attention also to the central Asian region, “because unlikely the Mediterranean area where the situation of refugees is very visible […], what is happening on the land route through central Asia [..] is very often not visible, but the figures are equally high”. In fact, as pointed out by Mr. Link “we should not forget the very very dramatic situation of refugees going the land way from other  areas, in particular Afghanistan through Tajikistan”. On the land route,  one of the main problems now is the construction of fences, which are not per se illegal, but they are not a solution, since it is necessary to avoid unilateral decisions.

What is needed, and the OSCE works for that despite the constraints, is promoting “the active training of state institutions on how to integrate migrants, and to train border guards, prosecutors and policies on how to deal in a human rights compliant way with refugees”. In fact, as recalled by Mr. Link, “no human being is illegal by itself, only if he or she committed a crime, and to be a refugee is not a crime. Of course there is not the obligation to accept everybody, [since] receiving States have surely limits and cannot afford to take everybody, but deal with this situation in a human right compliant way is the key”. In this situation nobody can close the eyes anymore, the influx of migrants and refugees will not stop in the next ten-twenty years, and so “we need to find ways how to distribute […] these human beings and not to see them as a threat but as an opportunity”.