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Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)


Self Description

October 2006: "With 56 participating States from Europe, Central Asia and North America, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) forms the largest regional security organization in the world.

The OSCE is a primary instrument for early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation in its area. It has 19 missions or field operations in South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The Organization deals with three dimensions of security - the politico-military, the economic and environmental, and the human dimension. It therefore addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities. All 56 participating States enjoy equal status, and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.

Participating States

The OSCE's 56 participating States are: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America and Uzbekistan."

http://www.osce.org/about/19298.html

Third-Party Descriptions

May 2001: "The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitors such issues, says Latvia's language and citizenship rules meet European standards, but that the government could do more to ease the naturalization process — for instance, lowering the $50 fee and offering Latvian language classes."

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/20/world/20LATV.html

May 2011: 'But conditions have been shifting, slowly but surely, in a dangerous direction. Negotiations mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe faltered last year, leaving a “basic principles agreement” that was five years in the making unsigned by either side. Both countries are engaged in a steep military buildup; Azerbaijan, by far the richer of the two, has increased defense spending twentyfold since 2003, according to the International Crisis Group.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/world/asia/01azerbaijan.html

October 2007: Russia has increasingly complained that the OSCE, which has criticized the conduct of numerous elections in former Soviet states, is a vehicle for the West to undermine Russia and its allies. The Kremlin routinely organizes parallel election-monitoring missions to those states; the missions invariably endorse votes that Western observers have condemned as neither free nor fair.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR2007102302131.html

July 2007: What began as a property dispute between the Hare Krishna community and the local authorities has ballooned into an international controversy that threatens Kazakhstan's ambition to chair the 56-country Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2009.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072402310.html

February 2007: There was no full-scale international monitoring of the vote, but officials with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which sent a handful of observers, said privately that the election was neither free nor fair. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, whose country currently chairs the OSCE, urged Turkmenistan to 'commit itself to a process of political reform and democratization.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/14/AR2007021400148.html

October 2006: "The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Europe appealed to each country to tone down the war of words and actions, but Russian lawmakers vowed to toughen, not ease, the economic sanctions against Georgia, their southern neighbor."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/world/europe/05georgia.html

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Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
May 31, 2011 ‘Frozen Conflict’ Between Azerbaijan and Armenia Begins to Boil

QUOTE: Since the early 1990s, Azerbaijan has been trying to regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave within its borders, and secure the return of ethnic Azeris who were forced from their homes by war. A cease-fire has held since 1994...

 New York Times
Oct 24, 2007 Russia Deliberately Delaying the Arrival of Election Observers, Critics Say

QUOTE: Russia has increasingly complained that the OSCE, which has criticized the conduct of numerous elections in former Soviet states, is a vehicle for the West to undermine Russia and its allies. The Kremlin routinely organizes parallel election-monitoring missions to those states; the missions invariably endorse votes that Western observers have condemned as neither free nor fair.

 Washington Post
Aug 08, 2007 Russians Fired Missile At Village, Georgia Says

QUOTE: Georgia on Tuesday charged that a Russian warplane fired a large missile at a Georgian village Monday in an act of "undisguised aggression." [But] Moscow sharply denied that any of its warplanes were in the area…

 Washington Post
Jul 25, 2007 Local Property Dispute Grows Into International Issue for Kazakhstan

QUOTE: One of the fundamental principles of the [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe]...is religious freedom. The standoff with the Hare Krishna movement threatens the image of a harmonious, multidenominational country...

 Washington Post
Feb 15, 2007 Turkmen President Installed After Vote Opponents Dispute

QUOTE: There was no full-scale international monitoring of the vote, but officials with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which sent a handful of observers, said privately that the election was neither free nor fair. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, whose country currently chairs the OSCE, urged Turkmenistan to "commit itself to a process of political reform and democratization."

 Washington Post
Oct 05, 2006 Dispute With Russia Threatens Georgia

QUOTE: Russia’s decision to sever transportation links — including flights, trains and ferries between the countries — has left Georgians and their businesses scrambling to cope with the disappearance of their country’s biggest and closest market....Russia has shown no sign that it intends to ease the pressure, despite the release Monday of four Russian military officers, whose arrests last week precipitated the latest deterioration of relations.

 New York Times
May 20, 2001 Latvians Can't Escape Cold War's Divisive Legacy

QUOTE: The native Latvians tend to see the Soviet troops as invaders and the Latvian resistance as freedom fighters. Russian Latvians tend to see their military forebears as Latvia's saviors from Nazi rule and the native Latvians who resisted them as Nazi collaborators.

 New York Times