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Over 100 human rights defenders from almost 90 countries have once again met in Dublin (Ireland) at the Dublin Platform for Human Rights Defenders, which took place from 14 to 16 September. FRONTLINE organizes the Dublin Platform every two years, allowing human rights defenders to meet each other, to share their experience and ideas, and to discuss with each other and with representatives of governmental and intergovernmental organizations the problems of their countries and regions.

This year, a lot of attention was paid to the issues and problems of the OSCE area and the activities of organizations in this region. A speech of Eamon Gilmore, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland (which will hold the chairmanship of the OSCE next year), became an important event of the platform. In his speech, Eamon Gilmore stressed that Ireland, as a country that actively promotes the European Union Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders, is going to pay attention to this issue during its upcoming chairmanship in the OSCE in 2012.

Before delivering speech, Gilmore was handed a letter from the organizations of the Platform. The letter contains recommendations for the upcoming Irish chairmanship of the OSCE and urges to promote dialogue with NGOs, as well as to pay attention to protection of human rights defenders and to work out standards and obligations in this area. In his speech, the Minister directly appealed to the NGOs: "We want to expand the role of the OSCE, and we will work to meet your expectations on our chairmanship."

Maina Kiai, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association also attended the Platform. In his speech he touched upon the problems of the OSCE region, in particular, the Republic of Belarus. The Special Rapporteur has also demonstrated an openness to dialogue and addressed the audience with the following words: "Human rights defenders are agents of change. Please, send me all the information about violations that you have. Use me as your mouthpiece!"

In addition to the official Platform events, an informal meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ireland took place in Dublin. The participants of the conference discussed issues of cooperation between various regional NGOs and the upcoming chairmanship. The meeting was attended by the representatives of the Committee on International Control over the Situation with Human Rights in Belarus, particularly Dmitry Makarov, a member of the Coordination Council of the Youth Human Rights Movement. At the very Platform Dmitry moderated Russian-language section, which was focused on protection of human rights defenders in the post-Soviet space.