Sarah B. Snyder

"Follow-Up at Belgrade: How Human Rights Activists Shaped the Helsinki Process"

The signing of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act by 35 European and North American parties, and in particular the document’s publication in Eastern Europe, spurred the development of a network devoted to ensuring its implementation.  In the years that followed, what I characterize as a transnational "Helsinki network" came to include Eastern European human rights activists, Jewish refuseniks, ethnic nationalists, international diplomats, legislators, international non-governmental organizations, journalists, and political leaders.  Together, and across national borders, they pressed for adherence to the human rights and human contacts provisions of the Helsinki Final Act.  This transnational network utilized the Helsinki process to shift the course of East-West relations and created institutions and social norms that helped inspire reform and facilitate the end of the Cold War in Europe.

The Follow-up Meeting held in Belgrade from 1977 to 1978 marked a significant turning point in the development and influence of the "Helsinki network".  First, the promise to evaluate Helsinki implementation at Belgrade provided the rationale for individual and collective efforts to monitor adherence to the agreement.  Eastern European dissidence increased as the Belgrade Meeting approached, resulting in the emergence of a network committed to protecting human rights in Eastern Europe.  Activists realized the meeting was a means to highlight their plight and grievances, and many delegates to the Belgrade meeting relied upon their research and reports during the review of implementation stage of the meeting.  Like Eastern European human rights activists, interested Western non-governmental organizations such as ethnic, religious, and human rights groups also closely monitored compliance with the Helsinki Final Act and exerted considerable influence on preparations for the Follow-up Meeting and the delegations in Belgrade.  In addition, governments such as the United States established formal monitoring efforts that prepared to review violations of the Helsinki Final Act at Belgrade. 

Second, the forceful review undertaken at the Belgrade Follow-up Meeting by the United States and, to a lesser degree, its allies inspired additional groups to form and monitor Helsinki compliance in the meeting’s aftermath.  The Belgrade Follow-up Meeting thus marked the beginning of a productive collaboration between the "Helsinki network" and Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) delegations.  Most importantly for the long-term influence of the CSCE and the "Helsinki network" on the end of the Cold War, the first Follow-Up Meeting led to a second; a whole series of subsequent review meetings fostered links among Helsinki advocates and cemented the CSCE and human rights advocacy onto the international diplomatic agenda.

My paper will utilize a wide range of international sources to illuminate the rise of the "Helsinki network" in advance of the first follow-up meeting and its influence on the deliberations at Belgrade.  In addition to the records of the Belgrade Meeting, I will rely upon reports produced by Western and Eastern Helsinki monitors as well as their correspondence with CSCE delegates to demonstrate the significance of the connections forged at Belgrade to the eventual success of the Helsinki process.