Helsinki Accords /helsing′kē/ , a declaration signed by the representatives of 35 member nations of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Helsinki, Finland, on August 1, 1975. The declared goals of the nonbinding document comprised four principal aspects of European security: economic cooperation, humanitarian issues, contact between the East and West, and provision for a later follow-up conference (held in Belgrade in 1978). Follow-up conferences were planned in part to allow the member nations to monitor each other’s performance on humanitarian issues, such as the right to self-determination of all people and respect for fundamental freedoms, including thought, conscience, and religion or belief, without regard to race, language, sex, or religion. The Helsinki Accords grew from the precedent set by the judgments at the Nuremberg tribunals—that crimes against humanity are offenses subject to criminal prosecution. The principle and the practice of informed consent in health care grew from this precedent. Also called Helsinki Declaration. See also Nuremberg tribunal.
