OSCE as a Security Actor

Zdeněk Kříž

European Security Architecture I.

Europe’s existing security order was constructed in the 1990s.

Dissolution of the Warsaw Pact – 1991 - the military threat to Western states disappeared.

Today, the European Security Architecture consists of the following organizations: OSCE, the EU, and NATO.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) does not play the central role originally envisaged for it in the early 1990’s.

Both the EU and NATO have been enlarged.

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European Security Architecture II.

Russia, which remains to be a very important security actor.

Russian policy towards OSCE makes the impression that Russia actually does

not want the European security architecture to be functional.

Last but not least, after the end of the CFE (1997) treaty, which came into force in 1991, due to the Russian withdrawal, the regime for European arms control disappeared.

A of second order conflicts and disputes emerged, previously suppressed by the Cold War. Those conflicts were based on religious, sectarian, nationalist, ethnic, socio-cultural, economic and environmental issues.

In the early 1990, it was hoped that OSCE would be able to deal with the newly emerging security challenges. 3

OSCE origins

The OSCE is an ad hoc regional organization under the Chap. VIII United Nations Charter. OSCE origins rest in in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe that took place in Helsinki in 1975.

The Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe held in Helsinki in July 1973 and resulted in 1975 in the concluding document: the Helsinki Final Act signed by 35 states.

The first basket was about security issues.

Second basket included agreements to conduct commercial exchanges and carry out projects of common interest in areas such as trade, industrial co-operation, science, technology.

The third basket included the principles of human rights.

Meetings to follow up on the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe took place during the 1970s and 1980s in Belgrade, Madrid and Vienna.

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OSCE at late 1980sThe Helsinki Final Act’s immediate effect on international relations was not

entirely positive.

Despite the difficult circumstances, the CSCE process offered the participating states a permanent channel of communication.

After 1985, however, far-reaching economic and political reforms introduced by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev fundamentally changed the existing status quo.

To be able to gain resources for reforms in Soviet society, he decided to change Soviet foreign policy and Soviet strategic aims.

He sought to improve relations and trade with the West by reducing Cold War tensions. It paved the way for Conference on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures and Disarmament – Stockholm in 1986.

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OSCE in early 1990The 22 NATO and Warsaw Pact States decided to begin negotiations that led to

the conclusion of the OSCE-related Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) in 1990. It entered into force in November 1991.

As a result, un unprecedented disarmament process started in Europe.

In 2007, Russia suspended the Treaty (its first version was still in force) allegedly because of US missile defense plans and NATO enlargement.

The sudden transformation of the political landscape in Europe after the end of the Cold War swept the CSCE from the sidelines to centre stage.

If the CSCE was to take a lead in ensuring European stability and security, it would need a permanent structure. Therefore the process of institutionalization started. Several small and decentralized support bodies were created: a Secretariat in Prague, a Conflict Prevention Centre in Vienna and an Office for Free Elections in Warsaw.

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OSCE RoleThe destabilization in Europe put the vision of the Paris Summit to test. The

declarations of independence by Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were immediately followed by bloody wars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMksTFy_csk&feature=related Sloveniahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQxXekP_bSs&feature=related Bosniahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulPsNrMMZ3E&feature=related Kosovohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z51eYfN5KFs&feature=relmfu Srebrenica

A civil war erupted in the Georgian region of South Ossetia.

However, OSCE results and role in Balkan and Caucasus conflict resolution clearly demonstrated that OSCE was put to the second place and the main role was played by the EU and especially by NATO.

Istanbul Summit brought a new incentive for further OCSE development by adoption Charter for European Security in November 1999.

Despite its comprehensiveness, it arguably lacked vision..

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OSCE – Institutions and Decision-making process

The highest decision-making body of the OSCE is the Meeting of Heads of State or Government, or just Summit

In January 1992 against the background of the Balkans wars, CSCE introduced consensus minus one decision making.

In December 1992 participating States adopted a modification of decision making process called consensus minus two.

Between Summits, the central decision-making and governing body of the OSCE is the Ministerial Council (MC), which consists of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of participating States. The Council meets annually, except in years in which a Summit takes place.

The OSCE's Secretariat, which provides administrative support, is located in Vienna, Austria.

The Permanent Council (PC), the OSCE’s regular body for political consultation and decision-making since 1995, convenes weekly in Vienna at the level of Permanent Representatives.

The Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) is an autonomous decision-making body in which representatives of participating states meet weekly to consult military security and stability in the OSCE area.

The Parliamentary Assembly was created as part of the institutionalization of the CSCE at its 1990 Paris Summit.

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OSCE – specialized bodies

The largest of the OSCE specialized institutions, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). It is based in Warsaw, Poland.

It organizes the observation of elections, reviews legislation and provides advice on how to develop and sustain democratic institutions.

Ethnic conflict and tensions between majority and minority groups are critical sources of large scale

Violence – creating the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM).

The youngest of the specialized OSCE institutions, the office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom

of the Media established in 1997.

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OSCE todayWith 56 States from Europe, Central Asia and North America, the OSCE is the

world's largest regional security -oriented intergovernmental organization.

In general, OSCE applies the comprehensive security approach that goes far beyond military security taking into account other sectors. (societal, economical and environmental).

OSCE does not provide any security guaranties and is not a collective defense or collective security organization similar to NATO or the UN.

A large number of field operations were carrying out in South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

In the last decade, OSCE shifted from emergency interventions to long term projects intended to promote stability, peace and human rights.

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OSCE - activitiesThe OSCE works to prevent conflicts from arising and to facilitate lasting comprehensive

political settlements for existing conflicts.

The OSCE is a leading organization in the field of election observation. The OSCE has observed over 150 elections and referendums since 1995, sending some 35,000 observers.

Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms forms a key part of the OSCE's comprehensive security concept.

Following an unprecedented period of activity in the last decade, the OSCE has over the past few years faced accusations from Russia of being a tool for the Western states to advance their own interests.

The OSCE future is very unclear.

On the one hand, OSCE is a unique forum of consultation of security issues and human rights monitoring throughout of Europe. On the other hand, Russia is not very satisfied with this OSCE activities and tries to paralyze this organization.

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