OSCE - Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is an international organization for security. In its region it is concerned with early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation. It has 55 participating states from Europe, the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North America.

The decision making bodies of the organization are the Summit, Ministerial Council and Senior Council, with the Permanent Council, under the leadership of the Chairman-in-Office, who holds the position for one year. For 2005, it was the Slovenian Foreign Minister.

The OSCE headquarters are located in Vienna, Austria. The Organization also has offices in Copenhagen, Geneva, the Hague, Prague and Warsaw.

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 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.

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 in Helsinki began in November Д972. 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 CSCE opened in Helsinki on July 3, 1973 with 35 states sending representatives.

The collapse of Communism required a change of role for the CSCE. The Paris Charter 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.

Ukraine was admitted to the organization on January 30, 1992. On February, 261992 Ukraine signed the Helsinki Final Act and on June, 16 of the same year the Charter of Paris was signed. So, Ukraine became the state-member of the OSCE.