View source for Helsinki Accords

{{short description|1975 non-binding European and North American political agreement}}
{{For|the set of principles on human experimentation|Declaration of Helsinki}}
{{Infobox summit meeting
| name         = Helsinki Final Act
| other_titles = Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe Final Act
| logo         = 
| image        = Schlussakte Helsinki 1975 (KSZE).jpg 
| caption      = The front page of the Helsinki Accords
| country      = {{Flag|Finland}}
| date         = 30 July – 1 August 1975
| motto        = 
| venues       = [[Finlandia Hall]]
| cities       = [[Helsinki]]
| participants = {{flagdeco|West Germany}} [[Helmut Schmidt]]<br />{{flagdeco|East Germany}} [[Erich Honecker]]<br />{{flagdeco|United States}} [[Gerald Ford]]<br />{{flagdeco|Austria}} [[Bruno Kreisky]]<br />{{flagdeco|Belgium|state}} [[Leo Tindemans]]<br />{{flagdeco|Bulgaria|1971}} [[Todor Zhivkov]]<br />{{flagdeco|Canada}} [[Pierre Trudeau]]<br />{{flagdeco|Cyprus|1960}} [[Makarios III]]<br />{{flagdeco|Denmark}} [[Anker Jørgensen]]<br />{{flagdeco|Spain|1945}} [[Carlos Arias Navarro]]<br />{{flagdeco|Finland}} [[Urho Kekkonen]]<br />{{flagdeco|France|1974}} [[Valéry Giscard d’Estaing]]<br />{{flagdeco|UK}} [[Harold Wilson]]<br />{{flagdeco|Greece}} [[Konstantinos Karamanlis]]<br />{{flagdeco|Hungary}} [[János Kádár]]<br />{{flagdeco|Republic of Ireland}} [[Liam Cosgrave]]<br />{{flagdeco|Iceland}} [[Geir Hallgrímsson]]<br />{{flagdeco|Italy|2003}} [[Aldo Moro]]<br />{{flagdeco|Liechtenstein}} [[Walter Kieber]]<br />{{flagdeco|Luxembourg}} [[Gaston Thorn]]<br />{{flagdeco|Malta}} [[Dom Mintoff]]<br />{{flagdeco|Monaco}} [[André Saint-Mleux]]<br />{{flagdeco|Norway}} [[Trygve Bratteli]]<br />{{flagdeco|Netherlands}} [[Joop den Uyl]]<br />{{flagdeco|Poland|1928}} [[Edward Gierek]]<br />{{nowrap|{{flagdeco|Portugal}} [[Francisco da Costa Gomes]]}}<br />{{flagdeco|Romania|1965}} [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]]<br />{{flagdeco|San Marino|1862}} [[Gian Luigi Berti]]<br />{{flagdeco|Holy See}} [[Agostino Casaroli]]<br />{{flagdeco|Sweden}} [[Olof Palme]]<br />{{flagdeco|Switzerland}} [[Pierre Graber]]<br />{{flagdeco|Czechoslovakia}} [[Gustáv Husák]]<br />{{flagdeco|Turkey}} [[Süleyman Demirel]]<br />{{flagdeco|Soviet Union}} [[Leonid Brezhnev]]<br />{{flagdeco|Yugoslavia}} [[Josip Broz Tito]]
| chairperson  = 
| follows      =   
| precedes     = [[Paris Charter]]
| website      =
| keypoints    =
| compactnav   = 
}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-P0801-026, Helsinki, KSZE-Konferenz, Schlussakte.jpg|thumb|300px|Chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) [[Helmut Schmidt]], Chairman of the State Council of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) [[Erich Honecker]], US president [[Gerald Ford]] and Austrian chancellor [[Bruno Kreisky]]]]

[[File:Henry Kissinger, Leonid Brezhnev, President Gerald Ford, and Andrei Gromyko.jpg|thumb|300x300px|From left is [[Kissinger]], Brezhnev, Ford, and [[Andrei_Gromyko|Gromyko]] outside of the American Embassy, Helsinki, Finland, 1975.]]
The '''Helsinki Final Act''', also known as '''Helsinki Accords''' or '''Helsinki Declaration''', was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the [[Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe]] (CSCE) held in [[Helsinki]], Finland, between 30 July and 1 August 1975, following two years of negotiations known as the Helsinki Process.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wayback Machine |url=https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/The%20Helsinki%20Process%20Four%20Decade%20Overview.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230828030925/https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/The%20Helsinki%20Process%20Four%20Decade%20Overview.pdf |archive-date=2023-08-28 |access-date=2025-10-22 |website=www.csce.gov |url-status=dead }}</ref> All then-existing [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe|European countries]] except  [[Andorra]] and [[Hoxhaism|Hoxhaist]] [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albania]], as well as the [[United States]] and [[Canada]] (altogether 35 participating states), signed the Final Act in an attempt to improve the [[détente]] between the [[Eastern Bloc|East]] and the [[Western Bloc|West]]. The Helsinki Accords, however, were not binding as they did not have [[treaty]] status that would have to be ratified by parliaments.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Helsinki Accords {{!}} Cold War Diplomacy & Impact on International Relations {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Helsinki-Accords |access-date=2025-10-22 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Sometimes the term "Helsinki pact(s)" was also used unofficially.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0909/090925.html|title = Helsinki pact: A three-way battle in Madrid|journal = Christian Science Monitor|date = 9 September 1980}}</ref>

== Articles ==
In the [[Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe]] terminology, there were four groupings or baskets. In the first basket, the "Declaration on Principles Guiding Relations between Participating States" (also known as "The Decalogue") enumerated the following 10 points:

{{ordered list|list_style_type=upper-roman
| Sovereign equality, respect for the rights inherent in sovereignty
| Refraining from the threat or use of force
| Inviolability of frontiers
| [[Territorial integrity]] of states
| Peaceful settlement of disputes
| Non-intervention in internal affairs
| Respect for [[human rights]] and [[fundamental freedoms]], including the [[freedom of thought]], conscience, [[freedom of religion|religion]] or belief
| Equal rights and [[Right to self-determination|self-determination of peoples]]
| Co-operation among States
| Fulfillment in good faith of obligations under international law
}}

The second basket promised economic, scientific, and technological cooperation; facilitating business contacts and industrial cooperation; linking together transportation networks; and increasing the flow of information. The third basket involved commitments to improve the human context of family reunions, marriages and travel. It also sought to improve the conditions of journalists and expand cultural exchanges. The fourth basket dealt with procedures to monitor implementation, and to plan future meetings.<ref>Timothy J. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History'' (2013) 1: 460-62.</ref>

=== Freedom of information ===

The United States had sought a provision that would prohibit [[radio jamming]] but it failed to find consensus due to Soviet opposition. Despite this, the West believed jamming was illegal under the agreed upon language for "expansion of the dissemination of information broadcast by radio". The Soviet Union believed that jamming was a legally justified response to broadcasts they argued were a violation of the Helsinki Accords' broad purpose to "meet the interest of mutual understanding among people and the aims set forth by the Conference".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Price |first1=Rochelle B. |title=Jamming and the Law of International Communications |journal=Michigan Journal of International Law |date=1984 |volume=5 |issue=1 |url=https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1841&context=mjil}}</ref>

== Ford administration ==
When President [[Gerald Ford]] came into office in August 1974, the [[Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe]] (CSCE) negotiations had been underway for nearly two years. Although the USSR was looking for a rapid resolution, none of the parties were quick to make concessions, particularly on human rights points. Throughout much of the negotiations, US leaders were disengaged and uninterested with the process. In August 1974, National Security Advisor and Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]] said to Ford "we never wanted it but we went along with the Europeans [...] It is meaningless — it is just a grandstand play to the left. We are going along with it."<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=President Ford–Henry Kissinger memcon (August 15, 1974) |first=Gerald |last=Ford |authorlink=Gerald Ford |first2=Henry |last2=Kissinger |authorlink2=Henry Kissinger |first3=Brent |last3=Scowcroft |authorlink3=Brent Scowcroft |date=August 15, 1974 |publisher=Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library |page=5 |wspage=5 |scan=Page:Ford, Kissinger - August 15, 1974(Gerald Ford Library)(1552750).pdf/6}}</ref>

In the months leading up to the conclusion of negotiations and signing of the Helsinki Final Act, the American public, in particular Americans of Eastern European descent voiced their concerns that the agreement would mean the acceptance of [[Eastern Bloc|Soviet domination over Eastern Europe]] and [[Baltic states under Soviet rule (1944–1991)|forced incorporation of the Baltic States into the USSR]]. President Ford was concerned about this as well and sought clarification on this issue from the [[United States National Security Council|US National Security Council]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.parallelarchive.org/document/3615/viewfull|title=President's Inquiry on CSCE / Baltic States (Case File)|date=March 18, 2014|website=web.archive.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318080011/http://www.parallelarchive.org/document/3615/viewfull |archive-date=18 March 2014 }}</ref>

The US Senate was also worried about the fate of the [[Baltic States]] and the CSCE in general. Several senators wrote to President Ford requesting that the final summit stage be delayed until all matters had been settled, and in a way favorable to the West. Ford also attracted criticism from a wide range of political spectrum when he refused to meet with [[Soviet dissidents|Soviet dissident]] [[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]] to avoid damaging [[Soviet Union–United States relations]] before the conference.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Wilentz|first=Sean|url=|title=The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008|date=2008|publisher=Harper|isbn=978-0-06-074480-9|edition=1|location=New York, NY|oclc=182779124}}</ref>

Shortly before President Ford departed for Helsinki, he held a meeting with a group of Americans of Eastern European background, and stated definitively that US policy on the Baltic States would not change, but would be strengthened since the agreement denies the annexation of territory in violation of [[international law]] and allows for the peaceful change of borders.<ref name="kissinger-memo">{{Cite web|url=http://www.parallelarchive.org/document/3648/viewfull|title=Memorandum for Henry Kissinger from A. Denis Clift, Re: Replies to Correspondence Critical of CSCE |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318080405/http://www.parallelarchive.org/document/3648/viewfull |archive-date=18 March 2014 }}</ref>

Ford in July 1975 told the delegation of Americans from East European backgrounds that:
{{quote|The Helsinki documents involve political and moral commitments aimed at lessening tensions and opening further the lines of communication between the peoples of East and West. ... We are not committing ourselves to anything beyond what we are already committed to by our own moral and legal standards and by more formal treaty agreements such as the [[Charter of the United Nations|United Nations Charter]] and [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights|Declaration of Human Rights]]. ... If it all fails, Europe will be no worse off than it is now. If even a part of it succeeds, the lot of the people in Eastern Europe will be that much better, and the cause of freedom will advance at least that far.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ford, Gerald R.|title=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Gerald R. Ford, 1975|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SILVAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1031|year=1977|pages=1030–31|publisher=Best Books on |isbn=9781623768485}}</ref>}}

His reassurances had little effect. The volume of negative mail continued to grow.<ref name="kissinger-memo"/> The American public was still unconvinced that American policy on the incorporation of the Baltic States would not be changed by the Helsinki Final Act. Despite protests from all around, Ford decided to move forward and sign the agreement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.parallelarchive.org/document/3961/viewfull|title=President Ford's Visit to Helsinki, July 29 - August 2, 1975, CSCE Briefing Book |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318080743/http://www.parallelarchive.org/document/3961/viewfull |archive-date=18 March 2014 }}</ref> As domestic criticism mounted, Ford hedged on his support for the Helsinki Accords, which had the impact of overall weakening his foreign-policy stature.<ref name=":1" />

[[Ronald Reagan]] made the Accords a centerpiece of [[Ronald Reagan 1976 presidential campaign|his campaign]] against Ford for the [[1976 Republican Party presidential primaries]]. During the [[1976 United States presidential election|general election]], the Democratic nominee [[Jimmy Carter]] attacked the Accords as a legitimation of the "Soviet domination of Eastern Europe." A debate about the Accords in this vein during the [[1976 United States presidential debates]] led to an infamous presidential gaffe in which Ford claimed that there was "no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration."<ref name=":0" /> His blunder in the debate with Carter when he denied Kremlin control of Poland proved disastrous.<ref name=":1">Sarah B. Snyder, "Through the Looking Glass: The Helsinki Final Act and the 1976 Election for President." ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'' 21.1 (2010): 87-106.</ref>

== Reception and impact ==
 
The document was seen both as a significant step toward reducing [[Cold War]] tensions and as a major diplomatic boost for the Soviet Union at the time, due to its clauses on the inviolability of national frontiers and respect for territorial integrity, which were seen to consolidate the USSR's territorial gains in Central Europe following [[World War II]]. Considering objections from [[Canada]], [[Spain]], [[Ireland (state)|Ireland]] and other states, the Final Act simply stated that "frontiers" in Europe should be stable but could change by peaceful internal means.<ref name=QUEST>{{cite book |last=Hiden |first=John |author2=Vahur Made |author3=David J. Smith |title=The Baltic question during the Cold War |publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |page=209 |isbn=978-0-415-37100-1}}</ref>{{Rp|65}} US president [[Gerald Ford]] also reaffirmed that US [[Welles Declaration|non-recognition policy]] of the [[Baltic States]]' ([[Lithuania]], [[Latvia]] and [[Estonia]]) [[Occupation of the Baltic states|forced incorporation into the Soviet Union]] had not changed.<ref>{{cite book |last=McHugh |first=James T. |author2=James S. Pacy |title=Diplomats without a country: Baltic diplomacy, international law, and the Cold War |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year= 2001 |page=84 |isbn=978-0-313-31878-8}}</ref> Leaders of other [[NATO]] member states made similar statements.<ref name=QUEST/>{{Rp|65}}

However, the [[civil rights]] portion of the agreement provided the basis for the work of the [[Helsinki Watch]], an independent [[non-governmental organization]] created to monitor compliance to the Helsinki Accords (which evolved into several regional committees, eventually forming the [[International Helsinki Federation]] and [[Human Rights Watch]]). While these provisions applied to all signatories, the focus of attention was on their application to the Soviet Union and its [[Warsaw Pact]] allies, including [[Bulgaria]], [[Czechoslovakia]], the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany), [[Hungary]], [[Poland]], and [[Romania]]. [[Propaganda in the Soviet Union|Soviet propaganda]] presented the Final Act as a great triumph for Soviet diplomacy and for Brezhnev personally.<ref name=QUEST/>{{Rp|65}}

In practice, the Soviet government significantly curbed the [[rule of law]], [[civil liberties]], [[Criminal justice|protection of law]] and [[Property rights|guarantees of property]],<ref name="Pipes2001">[[Richard Pipes]] (2001) ''Communism'' Weidenfeld & Nicolson. {{ISBN|0-297-64688-5}}</ref><ref name="Pipes1994">[[Richard Pipes]] (1994) ''Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime''. Vintage. {{ISBN|0-679-76184-5}}., pages 401&ndash;403.</ref> which were considered examples of "bourgeois morality" by Soviet legal theorists such as [[Andrey Vyshinsky]].<ref name="Vyshinsky1949">{{Cite book|title = Teoria dowodów sądowych w prawie radzieckim|last = Wyszyński|first = Andrzej|publisher = Biblioteka Zrzeszenia Prawników Demokratów|year = 1949|pages = 153, 162|url = http://echelon.pl/files/echelon/Wyszy%C5%84ski%20-%20Teoria%20dowod%C3%B3w%20s%C4%85dowych%20(OCR).pdf}}</ref> The Soviet Union signed legally-binding human rights documents, but they were neither widely known or accessible to people living under Communist rule, nor were they taken seriously by the Communist authorities.<ref name=thomas-hrideas>{{Cite journal| volume = 7| issue = 2| pages = 110–141| last = Thomas| first = Daniel C.| title = Human Rights Ideas, the Demise of Communism, and the End of the Cold War| journal = Journal of Cold War Studies| year = 2005| url = http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/cws/summary/v007/7.2thomas.html| doi=10.1162/1520397053630600| s2cid = 57570614| url-access = subscription}}</ref>{{rp|117}} Human rights activists in the Soviet Union were regularly subjected to harassment, repressions and arrests.

According to the Cold War scholar [[John Lewis Gaddis]] in his book ''The Cold War: A New History'' (2005), "[[Leonid Brezhnev]] had looked forward, [[Anatoly Dobrynin]] recalls, to the 'publicity he would gain... when the Soviet public learned of the final settlement of the postwar boundaries for which they had sacrificed so much'... '[Instead, the Helsinki Accords] gradually became a manifesto of the dissident and liberal movement'... What this meant was that the people who lived under these [communist] systems &mdash; at least the more courageous &mdash; could claim official permission to say what they thought."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Cold War|last=Gaddis|first=John Lewis|publisher=Penguin|year=2005|isbn=978-0-141-02532-2|location=London|pages=190}}</ref>

The then-[[People's Republic of Albania]] refused to participate in the Accords, its leader [[Enver Hoxha]] arguing, "All the satellites of the Soviets with the [[Bulgaria–Russia relations#20th century|possible exception of the Bulgarians]] want to break the shackles of the [[Warsaw Pact|Warsaw Treaty]], but they cannot. Then their only hope is that which the Helsinki document allows them, that is, to strengthen their friendship with the United States of America and the West, to seek investments from them in the form of credits and imports of their technology without any restrictions, to allow the church to occupy its former place, to deepen the moral degeneration, to increase the [[anti-Sovietism]], and the Warsaw Treaty will remain an empty egg-shell."<ref>Enver Hoxha. ''The Superpowers''. Tiranë: 8 Nëntori Publishing House. 1986.</ref>

The Helsinki Accords served as the groundwork for the later [[Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe]] (OSCE), established in 1995 under the [[Paris Charter]] of 1990.

== Signatory states ==

{{div col| colwidth =12em}}
* {{flag|Austria}}
* {{flag|Belgium|state}}
* {{flagcountry|People's Republic of Bulgaria|1971}}
* {{flag|Canada}}
* {{flag|Cyprus|1960}}
* {{flagcountry|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic}}
* {{flag|Denmark}}
* {{flag|Finland}}
* {{flag|France|1974}}
* {{flag|East Germany}}
* {{flag|West Germany}} 
* {{flag|Greece}}
* {{flag|Holy See}}
* {{flagcountry|Hungarian People's Republic}}
* {{flag|Iceland}}
* {{flag|Ireland}}
* {{flag|Italy}}
* {{flag|Liechtenstein}}
* {{flag|Luxembourg}}
* {{flag|Malta}}
* {{flag|Monaco}}
* {{flag|Netherlands}}
* {{flag|Norway}}
* {{flagcountry|Polish People's Republic|1928}}
* {{flag|Portugal}}
* {{flagcountry|Socialist Republic of Romania}}
* {{flag|San Marino|1862}}
* {{flag|Soviet Union|1955}}
* {{flagcountry|Francoist Spain}}
* {{flag|Sweden}}
* {{flag|Switzerland}}
* {{flag|Turkey}}
* {{flag|United Kingdom}}
* {{flag|United States}}
* {{flag|Yugoslavia}}
{{div col end}}

== Heads of state or government ==
The "undersigned High Representatives of the participating States" as well as seating at the conference were ordered alphabetically by the countries' short names in French (thus starting with the two {{lang|fr|Allemagne}}s followed by {{lang|fr|Amérique}}, and {{lang|fr|Tchécoslovaquie}} separated from {{lang|fr|Union soviétique}} by {{lang|fr|Turquie}} etc.). This also influenced the act's headers consecutively in German, English, Spanish, French, Italian and Russian, which were also the conference's working languages and languages of the act itself.<ref>{{cite conference |last= |first= |date=1 August 1975 |title=The Helsinki Final Act |url=https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/Helsinki%20Final%20Act.pdf |url-status=dead |work= |conference=Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe |location=Helsinki |publisher=Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe |access-date=30 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801131656/https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/Helsinki%20Final%20Act.pdf |archive-date=1 August 2020}}</ref>  
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Helmut Schmidt]], [[Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany|Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
* [[Erich Honecker]], [[Leadership of East Germany|First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany]]
* [[Gerald Ford]], [[President of the United States]]
* [[Bruno Kreisky]], [[Chancellor of Austria]]
* [[Leo Tindemans]], [[Prime Minister of Belgium]]
* [[Todor Zhivkov]], [[List of heads of state of Bulgaria|Chairman of the State Council of Bulgaria]]
* [[Pierre Trudeau]], [[Prime Minister of Canada]]
* [[Makarios III]], [[President of Cyprus]]
* [[Anker Jørgensen]], [[Prime Minister of Denmark]]
* [[Carlos Arias Navarro]], [[Prime Minister of Spain]]
* [[Urho Kekkonen]], [[President of Finland]]
* [[Valéry Giscard d’Estaing]], [[President of France]] (who also serves as [[Co-Prince of Andorra]] however no such function at all is mentioned in the declaration)
* [[Harold Wilson]], [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]
* [[Konstantinos Karamanlis]], [[Prime Minister of Greece]]
* [[János Kádár]], First Secretary of the Central Committee of the [[Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party]]
* [[Liam Cosgrave]], [[Taoiseach|Taoiseach of Ireland]]
* [[Geir Hallgrímsson]], [[Prime Minister of Iceland]]
* [[Aldo Moro]], [[Prime Minister of Italy]]
* [[Walter Kieber]], [[Prime Minister of Liechtenstein]]
* [[Gaston Thorn]], [[Prime Minister of Luxembourg]]
* [[Dom Mintoff]], [[Prime Minister of Malta]]
* [[André Saint-Mleux]], [[Minister of State (Monaco)|Minister of State of Monaco]]
* [[Trygve Bratteli]], [[Prime Minister of Norway]]
* [[Joop den Uyl]], [[Prime Minister of the Netherlands]]
* [[Edward Gierek]], First Secretary of the [[Polish United Workers' Party]]
* [[Francisco da Costa Gomes]], [[President of Portugal]]
* [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]], [[President of Romania]]
* [[Gian Luigi Berti]], [[Captain Regent of San Marino]]
* [[Agostino Casaroli]], [[Cardinal Secretary of State]]
* [[Olof Palme]], [[Prime Minister of Sweden]]
* [[Pierre Graber]], [[President of the Swiss Confederation]]
* [[Gustáv Husák]], [[President of Czechoslovakia]]
* [[Süleyman Demirel]], [[Prime Minister of Turkey]]
* [[Leonid Brezhnev]], [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
* [[Josip Broz Tito]], [[President of Yugoslavia]]
{{div col end}}

===International organizations===
* [[Kurt Waldheim]], [[Secretary-General of the United Nations]] (giving the opening speech "as their guest of honour", non-signatory)

==See also==
* [[Helsinki Committee for Human Rights]] &ndash; country organizations
* [[Charter 77]] and [[Moscow Helsinki Group]], Czechoslovak and Soviet/Russian dissident initiatives that appealed to the Helsinki Accords
* [[Helsinki Citizens' Assembly]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* Korey, William. ''The Promises We Keep: Human Rights, the Helsinki Process, and American Foreign Policy'' (St. Martin's Press, 1993).
* Morgan, Michael Cotey. ''The Final Act: The Helsinki Accords and the Transformation of the Cold War.'' (Princeton UP, 2018).
* Nuti, Leopoldo, ed. ''The Crisis of Détente in Europe: From Helsinki to Gorbachev 1975-1985'' (Routledge, 2008).
* Snyder, Sarah B. "Through the Looking Glass: The Helsinki Final Act and the 1976 Election for President." ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'' 21.1 (2010): 87-106. it helped defeat Gerald Ford
* Thomas, Daniel C. "The Helsinki accords and political change in Eastern Europe." ''Cambridge Studies in International Relations'' 66 (1999): 205–233.|
* Thomas, Daniel C. ''The Helsinki Effect: International Norms, Human Rights, and the Demise of Communism''. Princeton UP, 2001. {{ISBN|9780691048598}}
* Wenger, Andreas, [[Vojtech Mastny (historian)|Vojtech Mastny]], and Christian Nünlist, eds. ''Origins of the European security system: the Helsinki Process revisited, 1965-75.'' (Routledge, 2008).
* Kieninger, Stephan, ''Dynamic Détente: The United States and Europe, 1964–1975'' (Lexington Books, 2016).
* Badalassi, Nicolas, and Sarah B. Snyder, eds. ''The CSCE and the End of the Cold War: Diplomacy, Societies and Human Rights, 1972-1990'' (Berghahn Books, 2018).

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikisource|Helsinki Final Act}}

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160525015726/http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/osce/basics/finact75.htm Full text of the Final Act, 1975 Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe]
*[http://www.csce.gov United States Helsinki Commission]
* [https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/Helsinki%20Final%20Act%20-%20Long%20Version.pdf Scan of the original copy with signatures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220425005359/https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/Helsinki%20Final%20Act%20-%20Long%20Version.pdf |date=2022-04-25 }} (PDF)
*[https://areena.yle.fi/1-50134204 Signing of the Final Act on August 1st 1975]
*[http://www.osce.org/secretariat/16727?download=true OSCE Magazine October 2005: ''Special anniversary issue: 30 years of the Helsinki Final Act, 1975-2005'']
*[http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/helsinki_2716.jsp The Helsinki process and the death of communism]
*[http://hdl.handle.net/10822/552575 Interview with Henry Kissinger discusses Helsinki Accords during Soviet Repression in Poland] from the [https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494 Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives]
*[http://cscehistory.wordpress.com/ The Helsinki Final Act: Resources for Understanding its Creation, Implementation and Legacy] (see the nameplates at the photo)

{{Brezhnev era}}
{{Presidency of Gerald Ford}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cold War treaties]]
[[Category:1970s in Helsinki]]
[[Category:1975 in Finland]]
[[Category:Treaties concluded in 1975]]
[[Category:1975 in the European Economic Community]]
[[Category:1975 in international relations]]
[[Category:July 1975 in Europe]]
[[Category:August 1975 in Europe]]
[[Category:Organised events in Helsinki]]
[[Category:East Germany–West Germany relations]]