Helsinki Accords
On August 1, 1975, the leaders of 35 nations signed the Helsinki Final Act, the culmination of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). The accords recognised the post-war borders of Europe — a fundamental Soviet objective — and in exchange committed all signatories to respect human rights, freedom of movement, and the free flow of information. The Soviets believed they had achieved their main goal of legitimising their control of Eastern Europe; what they had not anticipated was the degree to which the human rights commitments would be used against them. The Helsinki Accords created a framework that human rights activists in Eastern Europe — in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union itself — immediately began to exploit. Czechoslovak dissidents formed Charter 77; Polish activists created the Committee for the Defense of Workers (KOR). These organisations could now point to their governments' own international commitments when demanding compliance with human rights norms. The Helsinki process thus planted seeds that would contribute to the democratic revolutions of 1989, making the accords — which conservatives at the time condemned as a giveaway — one of the most consequential arms of the Western Cold War strategy in retrospect.
- Year: 1975 CE
- Category: Diplomatic
