Kazakhstan, Astana, Dec. 1 / Trend A. Maratov /
The rights of civil society should be extended in all OSCE member countries, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today.
"We must also identify major shortcomings in fulfilling our promises on human rights and basic freedoms," Clinton said at the OSCE summit in Astana. "We need to extend civil society's rights."
The OSCE summit will be held in Astana on Dec. 1-2 and will bring together presidents and prime ministers from 56 OSCE member countries and 12 OSCE partner countries, as well as the heads of 68 international organizations.
Clinton said it is not enough to develop a national plan on human rights, but it must also be implemented.
"It is not enough for the government to just extend the rights of individual civil society organizations, and limit the rights of others," she said. "It is not enough simply to expand access to the Internet by blocking certain sites. It is not enough to guarantee freedom of the media and restrict journalists' activity. We should not just hold elections, we must do everything to hold elections freely and fairly."