Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
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Logo (and flag) of the OSCE in the English language. The logo adapts to the local language where the OSCE activity takes place. |
Created as an East-West forum during the Cold War era, the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is today very much an operational
international organization for securing stability, based on democratic practices and good governance. Most of its 3,500+ staff are engaged in field operations, with only around 10 per cent in its headquarters and other offices. Defined as a regional arrangement under the United Nations Charter (Chap. VIII), it is concerned with early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation. In its region, which covers most of the northern hemisphere, the OSCE currently has 56 participating states from
Europe, the
Caucasus,
Central Asia and
North America.
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World map of OSCE membership (2005) |
The high-level decision making bodies of the organization are the Summit and the Ministerial Council, with the weekly Permanent Council serving as the regular negotiating and decision-making body, under the leadership of the Chairman-in-Office, who holds the position for one year. The 2006 chairman is the
Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel De Gucht. From 1 January 2007, it will be Spain.
The OSCE's Secretariat (headquarters) is located in
Vienna,
Austria. The current Secretary General is
Marc Perrin de Brichambaut of France, succeeding
Ján Kubiš of Slovakia. The Organization also has offices in
Copenhagen,
Geneva,
The Hague,
Prague and
Warsaw.
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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 Co-operation in Europe issues resolutions, including a controversial measure in
2005 endorsing full representation of
District of Columbia residents in the
United States Congress[
1].
The
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, is the oldest OSCE institution, 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. OSCE/ODIHR has observed over 150 elections and referenda since 1995, sending more than 15,000 observers. It has operated outside its own area once. A 43-member OSCE team offered technical support for the
October 9,
2004 presidential election in
Afghanistan.
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].
The Organization was established in 1973 as the
Conference for Security and Co-operation 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 particpating nations during Stage III, which took place in
Finlandia Hall in
Helsinki 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."
[Ivanov, Igor S. The New Russian Diplomacy. Nixon Center and Brookings Institution Press: Washington, DC, 2002. pp. 97-98.]After a group of 13
democratic U.S. senators petitioned
Secretary of State Colin Powell to have foreign election monitors oversee the
2004 US presidential election, the
State Department acquiesced, and President Bush invited the OSCE to do so. [
3]
Structural history
The Chairman in Office for -
* 2006:
Karel De Gucht from Belgium
* 2005:
Dimitrij Rupel from Slovenia
* 2004:
Solomon Passy from Bulgaria
* 2003:
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, followed by
Bernard Rudolf Bot from The Netherlands
* 2002:
Jaime Gama, followed by
Antonio Martins da Cruz from Portugal
* 2001:
Mircea Dan Geoana from Romania
* 2000:
Wolfgang Schuessel, followed by
Benita Ferrero-Waldner from Austria
* 1999:
Knut Vollebaek from Norway
* 1998:
Bronislaw Geremek from Poland
* 1997:
Niels Helveg Petersen from Denmark
* 1996:
Flavio Cotti from Switzerland
* 1995:
Laszlo Kovacs from Hungary
* 1994:
Beniamino Andreatta, followed by
Antonio Martino from Italy
* 1993:
Margaretha af Ugglas from Sweden
* 1992:
Jiří Dienstbier, followed by
Jozef Moravčík from Czechoslovakia
* 1991:
Hans-Dietrich Genscher from Germany
The Chairman in Office is headed by the Foreign Minister of the Country halding the Chairmanship.
Fiscal history
Budget (in Millions of Euros, not adjusted for inflation) for -
* 2006: 186.2
* 2005: 186.6
* 2004: 180.8
* 2003: 165.5
* 2002: 167.5
* 2001: 194.5
* 2000: 202.7
* 1999: 146.1
* 1998: 118.7
* 1997: 43.3
* 1996: 34.9
* 1995: 18.9
* 1994: 21
* 1993: 12
Participating states
*
Europe*
European Union*
Council of Europe*
NATO*
WEU*
International organization*
Silence procedure*
Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe*
Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty*
Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia*
frozen conflict*
OSCE official website
*
OSCE The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
*
Open Directory Project - OSCE directory category
*
OSCEWatch*
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
