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Opening statement by the Head of the Austrian Delegation to the CSCE Liedermann1

Sub-Commission 8 (Human Contacts)

Mr Chairman2

Austria noted with great satisfaction that the final recommendations3 of the Helsinki Consultations in the third agenda item also recognised humanitarian aspects as a means of contributing to the strengthening of peace and understanding between the peoples of the participating States, because, in our opinion, such a statement is in line with Article 1 of the UN Charter4 and because there is a very clear interaction between political relations between states and the generous development of human contacts in all their forms.

Just as it is the primary task of the state to ensure the welfare of its citizens, so too are human beings at the heart of the security needs of states in the international community, which is why we must not overlook the role of human beings in our concept.

Above all, it seems to me that one of the great duties of a permanently neutral state is to never tire of emphasising the human side of politics.

If we want to promote and further develop the process of détente, we must also be able to come closer together on a human level and get to know each other better in order to gain more trust in each other, which is a prerequisite for peaceful coexistence and cooperation, which in turn is an essential element in ensuring security in Europe.

The interdependence of states and peoples, in which we live today as a consequence of developments in the natural sciences, especially technology, transport links and communications, has brought us closer together. We often hear it said that the world has become much smaller as a result of technological developments in recent decades. But has this really brought us closer together? Do we really understand each other better? In order to breathe more life into this technological convergence, which is already effective at this level, it is extremely important to develop human contacts at all levels, especially on an individual basis. How can we succeed in developing the process of building trust between states if we fail to promote contacts between the people who, taken together, make up the populations of those states, and to create more trust in this crucial human sphere in order to strengthen and promote the willingness to live together peacefully and to cooperate for the benefit of all peoples and states?

When I emphasise the importance of human contacts, I do so with a view to the principle mentioned at the outset that people are at the heart of our republic’s politics.

We are not pursuing any missionary aims in this regard, but purely practical goals that are in line with our own interests and at the same time serve to ease tensions. Austria’s geographical location and historical development mean that our people maintain many family and other personal relationships beyond our borders and therefore have a very concrete interest in creating better conditions for contacts between people in all their forms and for solving humanitarian problems.

It is therefore very important to us in Austria that the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe achieves concrete results as soon as possible in the interests of promoting and further developing the process of détente in this area.

However, if we want to achieve such concrete results, we must also do very concrete work and deal in great detail with the specific aspects of the task at hand, as set out in the relevant parts of the final recommendations of the Helsinki Consultations.5

This is how we understand the task ahead of us, and we are prepared to work constructively in the interests of ensuring that our conference proceeds swiftly.6