AJC Calls for Renewed U.S. Support for OSCE Anti-Semitism Programs

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rabbi Andrew Baker, the American Jewish Committee's director of international Jewish affairs, today warned the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission) that confronting anti-Semitism in Europe is becoming more difficult as U.S. government support for a pioneering law enforcement training program and other critical initiatives is eroding.

The Helsinki Commission is an independent U.S. government agency that monitors the work of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and determines American involvement in its projects.

The Law Enforcement Officers Program was created by the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) more than four years ago to train police across Europe in investigating hate crimes. It is widely viewed as the ODIHR's premier program in combating intolerance, said Rabbi Baker.

"This is a remarkable program not least for being an American 'export' at a time when we are viewed skeptically throughout much of Europe," Rabbi Baker said in his testimony today before the Helsinki Commission.

"While other OSCE member states have provided extra budgetary contributions to support it, the United States has evidently abandoned it," said Baker. "The State Department has not seen fit to provide any special financial support."

The training program is headed by Paul Goldenberg, a veteran American police command officer, who also serves as a consultant to AJC on security matters.

In his testimony, Rabbi Baker reviewed the significant accomplishments of the OSCE in taking concrete actions to combat anti-Semitism. "Once the problem of anti-Semitism was acknowledged, it became possible to seek ways to combat it," he said. "The OSCE has become perhaps the most important venue to address this problem."

But Rabbi Baker cautioned that personnel changes in the Helsinki Commission's Washington office; continuing anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe; the dismissal of certain anti-Israel invective as anti-Semitic in European circles; and the downplaying of anti-Semitism among other forms of bigotry in a variety of OSCE venues, threatens important progress.

"We cannot expect the special focus on the problems of anti-Semitism which are now acknowledged by the OSCE and carried out by IDIHR to run on autopilot," said Rabbi Baker.

"Fortunately, the OSCE affords us the opportunity to deal seriously and soberly with the persistent problem of anti-Semitism in Europe," said Baker, who urged commission members to redouble their efforts to keep U.S. participation in the OSCE a top priority.

Read Baker's full testimony at http://www.ajc.org.