The 'Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe' (OSCE) is an
international organization which serves as a forum for political dialogue. Its stated aim is to secure stability in the region, based on democratic practices and improved governance. Most of its 3,500+ staff are engaged in field operations, with only around 10% in its headquarters.
The Organization is defined as a regional arrangement under the
United Nations Charter (Chap. VIII), and is concerned with early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation. Its 56 member states are from
Europe, the
Caucasus,
Central Asia and
North America and cover most of the
northern hemisphere. It was created during the
Cold War era as an East-West forum.
Institutions
The high-level decision making bodies of the organization are the Summit and the Ministerial Council, with the Permanent Council that convenes weekly in Vienna serving as the regular negotiating and decision-making body, led by the Chairman-in-Office, who holds the position of Chairman for one year. The 2007 Chairman-in-Office is the
Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Miguel Angel Moratinos. Beginning 1 January 2008, the annual position will pass to
Finland.
Kazakhstan is bidding to become Chairman-in-Office in 2009, despite heavy objections from the United States and the United Kingdom.
In addition to the Ministerial and permanent Councils a Forum for Security Co-operation and the Ecomonic Forum are an integral part of the OSCE decision making institutions.
The OSCE's Secretariat (headquarters) is located in
Vienna,
Austria. The current Secretary General is
Marc Perrin de Brichambaut of France, who took over from
Ján Kubiš of Slovakia. The Organization also has offices in
Copenhagen,
Geneva,
The Hague,
Prague and
Warsaw.
A meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in the Hofburg in Vienna (photo by
Mikhail Evstafiev).
The OSCE employs close to 440 persons in its various Institutions. In the field, the Organization has about 750 international and 2,370 local staff.
The
Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe issues resolutions, including a controversial measure in 2005 endorsing full representation of the
District of Columbia residents in the
United States Congress [1].
The oldest OSCE institution in the
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, established in 1990. It is based in Warsaw, Poland, and is active throughout the OSCE area in the fields of
election observation, democratic development, human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination, and rule of law. To prevent
election fraud the OSCE/ODIHR has observed over 150 elections and referendums since 1995, sending more than 15,000 observers. It has operated outside its own area twice, sending a team that offered technical support for the
October 9,
2004 presidential election in
Afghanistan, an OSCE Partner for Co-operation, and an election support team to assist with parliamentary and provincial council elections scheduled on
18 September 2005.
The office of the
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, established in December 1997, acts as a watchdog to provide early warning on violations of
freedom of expression in OSCE member states. The Representative also assists member states by advocating and promoting full compliance with OSCE principles and commitments regarding freedom of expression and free media. The current Representative is former Hungarian parliamentarian
Miklos Haraszti [2].
Chairmanship
The responsibilities of the
Chairman-in-Office (CiO) include
;
★ co-ordination of the work of OSCE Institutions;
;
★ representing the Organization;
;
★ supervising activities related to conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation.
The Chairmanship rotates annually, and the post of the Chairman-in-Office is held by the Foreign Minister of a participating State. The CiO is assisted by the previous and succeeding Chairmen; the three of them together constitute the Troika. The origin of the institution lies with the Charter of Paris for a New Europe (1990), the Helsinki Document 1992 formally institutionalized this function.
Politico-military activities
The OSCE takes a comprehensive approach to the
politico-military dimension of security, which includes a number of commitments by participating States and mechanisms for conflict prevention and resolution. The Organization also seeks to enhance military security by promoting greater openness, transparency and co-operation.
★ Arms control
The end of the Cold War resulted in a huge amount of surplus weapons becoming available in what is known as the international grey market for weapons often illegal. The OSCE helps to stop the spread of such weapons and offers assistance with their destruction.
★ Border management
The actions taken by the OSCE in border monitoring range from conflict prevention to post-conflict management, capacity-building and institutional support.
★ Combating terrorism
With its expertise in conflict prevention, crisis management and early warning, the OSCE contributes to world-wide efforts in combating terrorism.
★ Conflict prevention
The OSCE works to prevent conflicts from arising and to facilitate lasting comprehensive political settlements for existing conflicts. It also helps with the process of rehabilitation in post-conflict areas.
★ Military reform
The OSCE's Forum for Security Co-operation provides a framework for political dialogue on military reform, while practical activities are conducted by the field operations, as well as the Conflict Prevention Centre.
★ Policing
OSCE police operations are an integral part of the Organization's efforts in conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation.
Economic and environmental activities
Activities in the economic and environmental dimension include the monitoring of developments in this area among participating States, with the aim of alerting them to any threat of conflict; and assisting in the creation of economic and environmental policies and related initiatives to promote security in the OSCE region.
★ Economic activities
Economic prosperity being one of the cornerstones of stability, the OSCE has a special focus on promoting a healthy economic environment in its member states.
★ Environmental activities
The participating member states work towards restoring and maintaining a sound ecological balance in the air, water and soil.
Human rights, education and law
The commitments made by OSCE member states in the human dimension aim to ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; to abide by the rule of law; to promote the principles of democracy by building, strengthening and protecting democratic institutions; and to promote tolerance throughout the OSCE region.
★ Anti-trafficking
In recent years, the fight against all forms of trafficking, whether of human beings, weapons or drugs, has been a top priority for the OSCE.
★ Democratization
The OSCE promotes democracy and assists the participating States in building democratic institutions.
★ Education
Education programes are an integral part of the Organization's efforts in conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation.
★ Elections
As part of its democratization activities, the OSCE carries out election assistance projects in the lead-up to, during, and following elections.
★ Gender equality
The equality of women and men is an integral part of sustainable democracy. The OSCE aims to provide equal opportunities for women and men and to integrate gender equality in policies and practices
★ Human rights
The OSCE's human rights activities focus on such priorities as freedom of movement and religion, preventing torture and trafficking in persons.
★ Media freedom
The OSCE observes relevant media developments in its participating States with a view to addressing and providing early warning on violations of freedom of expression.
★ Minority rights
Ethnic conflict is one of the main sources of large-scale violence in Europe today. The OSCE's approach is to identify and to seek early resolution of ethnic tensions, and to set standards for the rights of persons belonging to minority groups.
Criticism
Despite having been established as a channel of communication between East and West in the
Cold War the OSCE has in the most recent times been accused of lending support to the interests of Western participating States, primarily in advancing its own agenda, at the expense of embracive and substantive cooperation in all three OSCE dimensions. Its refusal to monitor elections in
Transnistria and
Abkhazia and other non recognised but
de-facto independent countries has led to sharp criticism from human rights groups and
President Putin of the
Russian Federation and other eastern European countries. The events in
Ukraine in 2004 ("Orange Revolution") led to allegations of OSCE involvement on behalf of the pro-Western Victor Yushchenko.
Russia and its allies are advancing the concept of a comprehensive OSCE reform, which would make the Secretariat, institutions and field presences more centralized and accountable to collective consensus-based bodies and focus the work of the Organization on topical security issues (terrorism, non-proliferation, arms control, etc.). Western participating States are essentially blocking this process, which they see as an attempt to prevent the OSCE from carrying out its democratization agenda in post-Soviet countries.
In
Munich February 2007 the President of Russia
Vladimir Putin said. “They are trying to transform the OSCE into a vulgar instrument designed to promote the foreign policy interests of one or a group of countries. And this task is also being accomplished by the OSCE's bureaucratic apparatus, which is absolutely not connected with the state founders in any way. Decision-making procedures and the involvement of so-called nongovernmental organizations are tailored for this task. These organizations are formally independent but they are purposefully financed and therefore under control.
[3][4][5][6][7]
One British NGO human rights group the British Helsinki Human Rights Group bearing a name similar to another long established International NGO has been very powerful in its criticism of the OSCE and has received much attention in return as a result
[8]
On July 21, 2004, the bipartisan leadership of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission) responded to a Declaration signed by nine members of the group known as the
Commonwealth of Independent States. The text was presented to the OSCE Permanent Council earlier by Russia's Ambassador to the OSCE, Alexey N. Borodavkin. The presidents of
Armenia,
Belarus,
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Moldova, the
Russian Federation,
Tajikistan,
Ukraine and
Uzbekistan signed the declaration. CIS members
Azerbaijan and
Georgia declined to sign.
Turkmenistan did not participate. While acknowledging that the OSCE occupies "a key place in the European security architecture," the Declaration maintains that the organization has been unable to adapt to the changing political and security environment
[9]
History
The Organization was established in
1973 as the 'Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe' (CSCE). Talks had been mooted about a European security grouping since the
1950s but the
Cold War prevented any substantial progress until the talks at
Finlandia Hall in
Helsinki began in November
1972. These talks were held at the suggestion of the
Soviet Union which wished to use the talks to maintain its control over the
communist countries in
Eastern Europe.
Western Europe, however, saw these talks as a way to reduce the tension in the region, furthering economic cooperation and obtaining humanitarian improvements for the populations of the
Communist bloc.
The recommendations of the talks, "The Blue Book", gave the practical foundations for a three-stage conference, the Helsinki process. The CSCE opened in Helsinki on
July 3,
1973 with 35 states sending representatives. Stage I only took five days to agree to follow the Blue Book. Stage II was the main working phase and was conducted in
Geneva from
September 18,
1973 until
July 21,
1975. The result of Stage II was the
Helsinki Final Act which was signed by the 35 participating nations during Stage III, which took place in Finlandia Hall from
July 30 to
August 1,
1975. It was opened by
Holy Sees diplomat
Agostino Cardinal Casaroli who was chairman of the conference.
The concepts of improving relations and implementing the Act were developed over a series of follow-up meeting, with major gatherings in
Belgrade (
October 4,
1977 -
March 8,
1978),
Madrid (
November 11,
1980 -
September 9,
1983), and
Vienna (
November 4,
1986 -
January 19,
1989).
The collapse of
Communism required a change of role for the CSCE. The
Charter of Paris for a New Europe which was signed on
November 21,
1990 marked the beginning of this change. With the changes capped by the re-naming of the CSCE to the OSCE on
January 1,
1995, accordingly to the results of the conference held in
Budapest, in
1994. The OSCE now had a formal Secretariat, Senior Council, Parliamentary Assembly, Conflict Prevention Centre, and Office for Free Elections (later becoming the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights).
In December
1996, the "
Lisbon Declaration on a Common and Comprehensive Security Model for Europe for the Twenty-First Century" affirmed the universal and indivisible nature of security on the European continent.
In
Istanbul on
November 19,
1999, the OSCE ended a two-day summit by calling for a political settlement in
Chechnya and adopting a
Charter for European Security. According to then Minister of Foreign Affairs
Igor Ivanov, this summit marked a turning point in Russian perception of the OSCE, from an organization that expressed Europe's collective will, to an organization that serves as a
Western tool for "forced democratization."
[1]
After a group of thirteen
Democratic United States senators petitioned
Secretary of State Colin Powell to have foreign election monitors oversee the
2004 presidential election, the
State Department acquiesced, and
President George W. Bush invited the OSCE to do so.
[10]
Structural history
The Chairman-in-Office is headed by the foreign minister of the country holding the chairmanship. The table below lists the leader of the Chairman-in-office and his or her country of origin, by year since 1991:
Fiscal history
Since 1993, the OSCE's budget by year (in millions of
euros, not adjusted for inflation) has been:
★ 2007 €186.2 million
★ 2006 €186.2 million
★ 2005 €186.6 million
★ 2004 €180.8 million
★ 2003 €165.5 million |
★ 2002 €167.5 million
★ 2001 €194.5 million
★ 2000 €202.7 million
★ 1999 €146.1 million
★ 1998 €118.7 million |
★ 1997 €43.3 million
★ 1996 €34.9 million
★ 1995 €18.9 million
★ 1994 €21 million
★ 1993 €12 million |
Participating states
OSCE signatories as of 2006.
Partners for Cooperation
References
1. Ivanov, Igor S. ''The New Russian Diplomacy.'' Nixon Center and Brookings Institution Press: Washington, DC, 2002. pp. 97-98.
See also
External links
★
Official website
★
OSCE The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
★
OSCE POLIS Policing OnLine Information System
★
Open Directory Project - OSCE directory category
★
United States Institute of Peace online training course for OSCE required for U.S. citizens hired by the Organization. Provides a detailed outline of the OSCE, with additional modules on each major area that it is involved in. Website freely available, but tests only given to those who have submitted applications.
★
OSCEWatch a website run by the
British Helsinki Human Rights Group (not an official
Helsinki Committee)
★
ODIHR OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
★
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media
★
OSCE eLearning unit created by ISRG - University of Innsbruck
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