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.
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