Moscow Mechanism

The Vienna Mechanism and the Moscow Mechanism are a linked pair of agreements on confidence and security-building measures on human rights established in 1989, 1990 and 1991 by the members states of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), which later became the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The Vienna Mechanism establishes procedures for raising and responding to participating states' requests on human rights issues, while the Moscow Mechanism adds procedures for independent "missions of experts" and "missions of rapporteurs" to visit and report on human rights issues.