Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
From the CSCE to the OSCE
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) evolved from the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) which had adopted the Helsinki Final Act at its Summit in 1975. The official change of name from CSCE to OSCE became effective on 1 January 1995. With its 56 members, the OSCE is the only security policy organization in which all European countries, the successor states of the Soviet Union, the United States and Canada are represented. (Montenegro became the 56th member on 22 June 2006.)
The Helsinki Final Act (1975), the Charter of Paris (1990) and the Charter for European Security adopted in Istanbul in 1999 are the OSCE's key documents, defining a steadily evolving and maturing set of political commitments based on a broad understanding of security. All participating States are accountable to each other with respect to their relations vis-à-vis other participating States and also with respect to the way they treat their own citizens. This is how it is set out in the Istanbul Charter. Indivisible security, conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction are among the most important aims.
Documents and other up-to-date information can be accessed on the OSCE website. The Centre for OSCE Research (CORE) of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, which is supported by the Federal Foreign Office, can provide more comprehensive information on the OSCE.
Organs, institutions and instruments
The OSCE's decision-making bodies are the Summits of Heads of State and Government (most recently in 1999), the Ministerial Council which meets once a year, the Permanent Council in Vienna composed of participating States' Permanent Representatives to the OSCE, which meets at least once a week, and the Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC), which meets once a week and has its own decision-making competence on politico-military issues.
The Chair-in-Office (Greece in 2009) bears overall responsibility for executive action. It is supported by the previous and succeeding chairs (Finland in 2008, Kazakhstan in 2010), who together with the Chair-in-Office form the so-called Troika. The Secretary General (since June 2005 Ambassador Marc Perrin de Brichambaut from France) supports the Chairperson-in-Office and heads the OSCE Secretariat, which has an international staff of about 175. The OSCE budget for 2008 was around 164 million euro (2007: around 168 million).
The OSCE includes the following institutions: the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) headed by the Slovenian Ambassador Janez Lenarčič in Warsaw; the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM), currently Ambassador Knut Vollebaek from Norway based in the Hague; and the Representative on Freedom of the Media (Miklós Haraszti, Hungary).
The CSCE's traditional role as a forum for political consultation and negotiation has, due to many internal and inter-ethnic conflicts, gradually expanded in the last ten years to include new functions in the areas of early warning, conflict prevention and post-conflict peacebuilding. The OSCE has developed a specific set of instruments for preventive diplomacy to enable it to perform these tasks.
OSCE Ministerial Council 2008 in Helsinki
The Georgia crisis, unresolved conflicts and the future of Europe's security dominated the agenda of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 4 and 5 December 2008. The fact that 50 of the 56 participating States sent their foreign ministers to the meeting underlines how important the OSCE remains as the forum for comprehensive security dialogue in Europe.
The Council issued a declaration praising the constructive and positive momentum of efforts to resolve the Nagorny Karabakh conflict and called on all sides to intensify the negotiations. The Council also reaffirmed the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the latter's 60th anniversary. A decision on strengthening the rule of law in the OSCE area, initiated by Germany, achieved a consensus.
Further decisions were taken, among other things, on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and conventional ammunition, combating terrorism, improving the situation of Roma and Sinti, combating human trafficking and on continuing the dialogue on strengthening the OSCE's legal basis.
On 27/28 June 2009, the foreign ministers of the OSCE assembled on Corfu for informal discussions.
Click here for more information on the Corfu meeting
In 2010 Kazakhstan will take over the OSCE Chairmanship from Greece.
Cooperation partnerships – OSCE instruments for dialogue with other countries
Since the early 1990s the OSCE has been conducting dialogue with a number of countries in the southern Mediterranean region (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan) and with some Asian states (Japan, South Korea and Thailand, Afghanistan (since 2003) and Mongolia (since 2004)). The exchange of views on cooperative security is promoted through meetings of experts, seminars and annual conferences. Those states which are considered cooperation partners also take part in meetings of OSCE bodies where relevant questions are discussed. Other cooperation activities are offered depending on the needs and interests of individual cooperation partners; for example, Japan seconded staff to OSCE missions in south-eastern Europe. In Afghanistan, the OSCE observed the presidential elections in 2004 and the parliamentary elections in 2005.
German commitment to the OSCE
The Federal Republic of Germany plays an active role in all spheres of the OSCE. Germany is an active contributor of finance and personnel, providing a little over 11% of the current OSCE budget. Moreover, the German Government provides substantial additional contributions on a voluntary basis. German staff are to be found in almost all the OSCE long-term missions and in OSCE institutions. All in all, Germany seconds between 50 and 60 experts. Furthermore, Germany regularly contributes up to 10% – which is actually the limit prescribed by the OSCE – to the election observation missions run by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). In 2008, Germany provided 222 election observers. Through the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, German MPs take part in election observation in the OSCE area.
The German Government continues to attach great importance to combating anti-Semitism as part of OSCE activities to promote tolerance and non-discrimination. As well as implementing the results of the high-level Berlin OSCE Anti-Semitism Conference held in April 2004, known as the Berlin Declaration, the German Government has provided support in terms of personnel and project financing for the Tolerance Unit in the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). From 2004 to 2008, Professor Gert Weisskirchen, Member of the German Bundestag, was the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office on Combating Anti-Semitism.
The German Government focuses particularly on OSCE activities in the sphere of border management and security. Under German leadership, successful crossborder cooperation has been instigated above all in the Western Balkans. The OSCE intends to do more to support border security and management in Central Asian participating States. In this way, the OSCE is also helping implement the EU Strategy on Central Asia and stabilize Afghanistan.
The OSCE as a "regional arrangement"
The OSCE is a regional arrangement in the sense of Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter. Its 1992 Helsinki Summit provided a general mandate to conduct peacekeeping operations and the Istanbul Summit confirmed this mandate. However, no such activity has been carried out so far by the OSCE.
Arms control
The OSCE is the anchor of conventional arms control and military transparency as well as confidence-building in Europe. Its Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC), which meets weekly and holds annual Implementation Assessment Meetings, is responsible for monitoring compliance with the various OSCE instruments for arms control and confidence and security-building measures (CSBMs) as well as for the development of future concepts. It consults on current security dialogue developments and negotiates and adopts politically binding decisions and documents aimed at strengthening security and stability throughout the OSCE area. The OSCE also supports the implementation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) and the Open Skies Treaty.
Among the key documents that are the subject of consultation and further development within the FSC are the Vienna Document of 1999 on CSBMs, the Code of Conduct on politico-military aspects of security, the Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons and the Document on Stockpiles of Conventional Ammunition. Furthermore, the arms control regime defined by the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords (Annex 1-B: Agreement on Regional Stabilization) is implemented under the auspices of the OSCE.
Last updated 30.06.2009
