Washington, D.C. – South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-2) chaired a meeting of the Helsinki Commission in Washington on Wednesday of this week. Wilson, who calls Springdale in Lexington County home, has been involved in these kinds of talks and follow-up actions for decades. Wednesday, the panel he chaired was one on Human Rights and Democracy in Europe.
According to their website at www.csce.gov/issue/helsinki-commission, the Helsinki Commission contributes to the formulation of U.S. policy on the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe or the OSCE. With 57 participating states in North America, Europe and Asia, the OSCE is the world’s largest regional security organization. The OSCE works for stability, peace and democracy for more than a billion people, through political dialogue about shared values and through practical work that makes a lasting difference.
After the hearing, Congressman Wilson released the following statement on chairing Wednesday’s Helsinki Commission Hearing. “I am grateful to have chaired today’s Helsinki Commission hearing on Human Rights and Democracy in Europe and for the bipartisan Congressional representation at today’s hearing. As an election observer in Bulgaria 30 years ago, I learned firsthand the importance of human rights to a healthy Democracy. America must remain committed to the protection and preservation of human rights in Europe and around the world.”
Congressman Wilson has worked tirelessly across the globe to build relationships between many countries and the US. Some of the nations he’s visited and assisted are very small. In many cases, Wilson has given these small nations a voice on a much larger stage by bringing their concerns back to the United States and presenting them in places like the Helsinki Commission. Without this larger voice, the people of those small countries have often had their basic human rights trampled on by other larger countries or dictatorships and falsely elected regimes in their own countries.
“I am grateful to have chaired today’s Helsinki Commission hearing on Human Rights and Democracy in Europe and for the bipartisan Congressional representation at today’s hearing. As an election observer in Bulgaria 30 years ago, I learned firsthand the importance of human rights to a healthy Democracy. America must remain committed to the protection and preservation of human rights in Europe and around the world.”
