Since its creation in 1973, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has addressed security broadly to include the protection and promotion of human rights. The Final Act, concluded in Helsinki in 1975, addresses human rights and fundamental freedoms as a necessary aspect of security.

Subsequent "follow-up" meetings produced other concluding documents that outline universal human rights standards. For example, in 1991, at the third Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE (Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe), held in Moscow, participating States recognized that "full and true equality between men and women is a fundamental aspect of a just and democratic society based on the rule of law." [1] Thus, paragraphs 40- 40.13 of the Moscow Concluding Document are a statement of the member States' commitments to "achieve not only de jure but de facto equality of opportunity between men and women and to promote effective measures to that end" and also to "seek to eliminate all forms of violence against women, and all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women including by ensuring adequate legal prohibitions against such acts and other appropriate measures."[2]

In 1990, the OSCE created the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), initially to address election standards. Today, however, the mandate of the ODIHR encompasses human rights and democratization more comprehensively. The Gender Unit of the ODIHR addresses the rights of women in three areas: women's political participation, women's participation in elections, and through projects designed to empower women and to combat violence against women. Additionally, the ODIHR addresses trafficking in women, through a separate unit that carries out anti-trafficking projects specifically.

In 2000, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights adopted a Gender Action Plan in an effort to ensure that a gender perspective is integrated into all OSCE projects. In pursuit of this goal, the ODIHR has implemented a number of projects, such as trainings for law enforcement and other legal professionals, development of legislation, public forums to raise-awareness and lobbying.[3] In 2004, the OSCE adopted a second Gender Action Plan in an attempt to overcome the first plan’s shortcomings, “especially in the fields of training, management, and recruitment, and in the overall practice of gender-mainstreaming throughout the OSCE as well as within participating States.” [4] Some goals include:  gender-mainstreaming the structures, working environment and activities of the OSCE; ensuring compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); ensuring non-discriminatory legal practices; preventing violence against women; promoting equal opportunities for women in the political process and in the economic sphere; and building national mechanisms for the advancement of women.[5]