We would like to exercise our right of reply in response to the Russian Federation.
At the outset we would note that the Russian Federation failed to identify a single concrete action it is taking to promote either the civil, political or economic, social and cultural rights of its people.
We explained why we have not yet been able to ratify the ESC Covenant, in part because of concerns about compromising other human rights or upsetting the balance between national and local authorities in our country.
On the Civil and Political Covenant, our reservations are not contrary to the object and purpose of the Covenant, but are narrowly drawn to avoid their being interpreted as colliding with other provisions such as freedom of expression.
We think the best way of countering bad speech such as propaganda for war is more speech opposing it. We note that countries with no such reservations have not let their concerns about war propaganda prevent them from invading neighboring countries.
As delivered by Ambassador Michael Kozak, Head of Delegation, OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, Warsaw
