The OSCE: History of Creation and Purposes. OSCE: structure, tasks and activities of the organization In which country is the OSCE located?

The history of the creation of the OSCE dates back to the signing on August 1, 1975. 33 states of Europe, as well as the United States and Canada in Helsinki of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). This document, developed on the basis of intensive three-year consultations, was called the "10 commandments of détente."

The “commandments” included provisions on respect for sovereignty, inviolability of borders, renunciation of the use of force in resolving conflicts, recognition of territorial integrity and the right of peoples to self-determination, non-interference of some countries in the internal affairs of others, respect for human rights and freedoms, cooperation between states and observance international laws.

Since then, the process of detente and the development of a common direction for solving the problems of the continent has slowly developed, which was reflected in the holding of a number of meetings of representatives of the participating states of the Helsinki Conference. It was obvious that the mechanism developed on the basis of the “10 commandments” signed by the countries was more suitable for this than military blocs. After the unification of Germany, the collapse of the USSR and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, a broad discussion began in Europe and the United States on the problem of building a new security system. Various scenarios for its development were worked out, taking into account the fact that issues of economy, ecology, democracy, culture, information came to the fore, and military-political categories seemed to cease to play a leading role. Thus, on December 5-6, 1994. at the Budapest summit, it was decided to transform from January 1, 1995. CSCE into the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) with its charter and legal framework. The OSCE has become the first comprehensive organization focused on the pan-European process (unlike the EU and NATO, which remain a “pole of attraction”) and indeed, over time, can become a forum for pan-European dialogue and cooperation. In 1995-1996. scenarios of "three concentric circles" were developed, according to which close interaction of the "small circle" of the WEU with the "middle circle" of NATO and the "big circle" of the OSCE was assumed. At the same time, scenarios that speak of a return to a balance of power policy instead of integration approaches in resolving security issues have been criticized. Particular attention was paid to Russia and its role in the new European system. So Genscher, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the FRG, said: “The West needs a strong Russia as a partner in European construction... In a more general sense, we are talking about changing the whole of Europe, and not at all about joining the East to the West of the continent” [Parkhalina T. On the new architecture of security in Europe// World economy and international relations. No. 12, 1999.]

At the OSCE summits there were discussions about creating a security model for the next century, but its development remained in the initial phase. Participants agreed that "a global vision of security issues, new challenges and risks facing Europe" is needed. [Friedman L. Power Potential and Security Vacuum in Europe// Mirovaya ekonomika i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. No. 2, 1995.]

The OSCE was seen as the basis of a new European security architecture as an organization that had already accumulated certain experience in four areas of activity - early warning of crises, preventive action to prevent the transformation of crises into conflicts, crisis management, post-conflict rehabilitation (as in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina ). In Chechnya, the OSCE has shown the ability to act as an intermediary neutral. The possibilities of the OSCE in the field of arms control and disarmament, its role in the field of economic and cultural cooperation, and the protection of human rights were considered. But the researchers believed that the organization does not have sufficient financial, institutional and organizational capabilities to provide its participants with reliable security guarantees against threats of all types:

“The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, for example, covers all states, but is deprived of the ability to make really effective decisions” [Parkhalina T. On the new architecture of security in Europe// World economy and international relations. No. 12, 1999.]

“... can one organization provide these guarantees and be the dominant element in the new system? In my opinion, the answer is unequivocal - no, it cannot. [Creation of a new system of European security and the role of international organizations. M., 1996.]

However, why is the process of establishing the OSCE as a comprehensive security organization so important for Europe?

First, to implement the new concept of security, starting points are needed - common to all. In the principles of the OSCE, these are - democracy, ensuring human rights, the rule of law, market economy, social justice and responsibility for the preservation of the environment - concepts that do not meet with objections in almost all participating countries.

Secondly, the basis of the OSCE is equality for all participating states, which puts all countries on an equal footing, regardless of the level of their economic and social development, and opens the door for a broad dialogue on various, including economic, problems.

Thirdly, military alliances cannot provide comprehensive security, as they unite the military potential of states in order to resist a common enemy. A potential adversary, in turn, is looking for allies to confront, which does not contribute to building trust between large groups of states. Communities, on the other hand, take common values ​​as a basis and, by their activity, contribute to the understanding of countries in each other's interests, the creation of "transparency" and trust. But: since communities rely entirely on non-military means, they are “unable to resist deliberate aggression. They are powerless when community formation fails and war breaks out.”

Fourth, the OSCE is the only real pan-European security organization. In the period after 1990 it has acquired a number of new organs that make it capable even outside the organization. These include the Permanent Council, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw, the High Commissioner for National Minorities and the Center for Conflict Prevention. In addition, it has sent observer missions to almost all conflict centers in Eastern Europe in order to ascertain on the ground the situation and possibilities for a peaceful settlement of conflicts. In addition, the OSCE is included as a "regional agreement", in accordance with Ch. VIII of the UN Charter, into the global system of collective security. However, so far all this has proved to be ineffective.

The content of the article

ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND CO-OPERATION IN EUROPE (OSCE)(Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE) is a unique regional forum that unites the United States, Canada, almost all European countries and former Soviet republics, until 1994 known as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).

From CSCE to OSCE.

The forerunner of the OSCE as an international organization proper was the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, convened in 1973 on the initiative of the USSR to overcome tensions in relations between East and West. The United States, Canada and most European states with different political, economic and social systems participated in its work. The main goal of the participating countries was to strengthen international detente and stability on the European continent, develop mutual understanding between peoples and establish international private contacts in the field of culture. At the Budapest Summit of the CSCE in 1994, it was decided to rename the CSCE to the OSCE. Thus, the OSCE was a logical continuation of the CSCE. Therefore, in journalism and scientific literature, the CSCE/OSCE is often written as two organically complementary phenomena in international relations.

Significance.

The political significance of the OSCE lies primarily in its uniqueness compared to other international governmental organizations in Europe. It is practically the only European security organization directly involved in early warning, conflict resolution and post-crisis recovery in crisis regions, as well as preventive diplomacy, election observation, and environmental security in Europe.

The founding document of the CSCE/OSCE is the Helsinki Final Act, signed on August 1, 1975 by the USSR, the USA, Canada and 33 European states. This document was intended to consolidate the existing "status quo" on the European continent and continue further movement along the path of detente in relations between the West and the East. It contained the basic principles that determined the norms of mutual relations and cooperation of the participating countries and consisted of three sections (or three "baskets"), corresponding to the number of the main tasks of the Meeting.

The first "basket" dealt with general issues related to the problems of European security. The second "basket" was devoted to the issues of economic, scientific and technical cooperation and cooperation in the field of ecology and environmental conservation. The third included humanitarian issues and the problem of protecting human rights (VII, VIII and XI principles). It caused the greatest resistance on the part of the USSR, since such a formulation of the problem transferred the ideological conflict between the two blocs to a completely different plane. The issue of protecting the political rights and freedoms of citizens was the "weak link" of the Soviet system, and the signing of the Helsinki Act became an international recognition, although not implemented in practice, of the right to exist for a dissident movement and political opposition in the USSR. Later, this was used more than once by the American leadership to exert diplomatic pressure on the USSR. According to many analysts, the adoption of the Final Act not only symbolized the era of "détente", but also led to the "re-ideologization" of the confrontation between East and West, transferring it to the plane of observance of human rights. Nevertheless, the very fact of convening the Conference contributed to overcoming tensions in the Old World and establishing a regime for the free exchange of ideas, information, as well as the free movement of people. The Helsinki Act also became the basis for the adoption of all subsequent basic documents of this organization.

A distinctive feature of the CSCE/OSCE is the universal nature of this organization: not only almost all European states, but also the USSR, the USA and Canada became its participants, and the main basic provisions of the Conference/Organization are aimed at ensuring security in Europe. It is quite obvious that the universal nature of the CSCE/OSCE was also ensured by procedural rules, namely: the principle of consensus in decision-making and the principle of equality of participating countries. The Final Act was also seen as documentary confirmation of the existing balance of power between the two military-political blocs (NATO and the Warsaw Pact) and the non-aligned countries.

After the collapse of the USSR and the end of the ideological confrontation between West and East, former adversaries attempted to turn the CSCE (and then the OSCE) into a pan-European organization involved in maintaining security in Europe, resolving conflicts, developing new arms control agreements, as well as taking measures to strengthen military confidence. It was at this time that such key documents as the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, the Treaty on Conventional Arms in Europe (CFE), the Open Skies Treaty, documents on the "third generation of confidence and security building measures" and other agreements were developed and signed. Thus, the participating countries tried to "adjust" the CSCE/OSCE to the new realities that have developed on the continent after the end of the Cold War.

NATO's eastward expansion and the increased level of cooperation between the North Atlantic Alliance and Russia have led to significant geopolitical changes, without, however, calling into question the role of the OSCE as the only pan-European international governmental organization. This organization is practically inseparable from the “key link” between NATO and the EU; it is often used by individual participating countries for indirect “voicing” their own national interests. For example, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mikhail Gorbachev and Francois Mitterrand tried to oppose the OSCE to NATO. In fact, Paris and Moscow were not interested in further strengthening NATO, as they did not have sufficient organizational resources to influence the decision-making process within NATO, which is heavily influenced by the United States. Moreover, in 1994, French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur proposed making the CSCE/OSCE the main peacekeeping organization in resolving the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Russia also supported this position and until the 1999 Istanbul summit tried to "promote" the OSCE as the main actor in the field of European security. However, criticism of Russian actions in Chechnya at the OSCE Istanbul Summit, as well as Moscow's increased cooperation with NATO, eventually led to a partial loss of Russian interest in the OSCE as an organization for maintaining security in Europe. At the beginning of the 21st century Russia pursues a pragmatic foreign policy and recognizes NATO as a key organization in the field of European security.

It should be noted that the transformation of the CSCE/OSCE in the 1990s was a spontaneous response to new security challenges. In particular, the collapse of the USSR caused not only an increase in the number of participants in the Helsinki process, but also significantly expanded the range of tasks to be solved by the CSCE, for the implementation of which new institutions were created. At the same time, the resolution of ethno-political conflicts on the European continent has become the main goal of the OSCE. However, real peacekeeping presupposes not only the political will of all participating countries, but also the existence of appropriate institutions. Thus, at a meeting in Prague (January 1992) of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the participating countries, it was decided to strengthen the role of the Conflict Prevention Center in planning peacekeeping missions. Basically, the missions of the Organization pursue two tasks: settlement or prevention of conflicts on the territory of the OSCE member states and informing about crisis situations. As a rule, missions differ from each other in the number of personnel involved (from 3 to 600 people) and in specific tasks determined by the respective mandate of the OSCE. At the beginning of the 21st century The OSCE maintains 8 missions in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and 7 offices in Minsk, Ukraine, Baku, Alma-Ata, Bishkek, Tashkent and Dushanbe. However, the missions deployed by the OSCE in the territory of the former Yugoslavia and in the Transcaucasus received the greatest fame: it was their activities that were covered in the international media and specialized political science publications. According to Russian and foreign political scientists, it is in these regions that the OSCE tried to play the role of an active peacekeeping organization. However, in both cases the OSCE played a secondary role and was mainly involved in post-conflict resolution. Thus, for example, the main task of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (established on December 8, 1995) was to monitor compliance with the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (“Dayton Accords”) and to strengthen peace, democracy and stability in the region. As in Bosnia, the OSCE mission in Kosovo played a leading role in issues related to the reconstruction of the territory, institution building and the strengthening of democracy. In both cases, NATO was directly involved in resolving the conflict, while the OSCE got the difficult and thankless job of post-war settlement and reconstruction. For example, the closure of the OSCE mission in Kosovo at the end of 1998 de facto meant that the organization refused to participate in the settlement of the ethnic conflict between Serbs and Albanians and the transfer of peacekeeping functions to NATO.

The undoubted success of the OSCE in Transcaucasia was the creation of the Minsk Contact Group on Nagorno-Karabakh (1992) to resolve the armed conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The group, which included representatives of Great Britain, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United States and France, dealt with the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, and its observers monitored the observance of a truce between the conflicting parties. In 1993, the Minsk Group proposed a plan for settling the territorial disputes between Baku and Yerevan (the "Updated Schedule"), but these provisions were not accepted by either Armenia or Azerbaijan. Eventually, in 1994, the two sides, mediated by Russia, agreed to honor an informal ceasefire agreement that is in place to this day.

The OSCE High Level Planning Group (HLPG) is developing and promoting a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but, so far, its efforts have not been successful. It should be noted that in this case, the OSCE tried to directly participate in the conflict settlement, but was largely pushed aside by the great powers - the co-chairs of the Minsk Group. In reality, it was the US, Russia and France, not the OSCE, that forced Armenia and Azerbaijan to suspend hostilities.

Operating structures, institutions and budget of the OSCE.

OSCE Permanent Council consists of representatives of the participating States and, in fact, is the main executive body of the OSCE. The Council meets once a week at the Vienna Hofburg Congress Center to discuss the current state of affairs in the OSCE area of ​​territorial responsibility and take appropriate decisions. Like the Council, the Forum for Security Co-operation meets once a week in Vienna to discuss and decide on issues related to the military dimension of pan-European security. In particular this applies Confidence and Security Measures. The Forum also deals with issues related to new security challenges and conflict resolution in the OSCE area of ​​responsibility. In turn, the OSCE Economic Forum meets once a year in Prague to discuss economic and environmental issues affecting the security of the participating countries.

The Summit or OSCE Summit is a periodic meeting of the Heads of State or Government of OSCE member states. The main task of the summits is to determine the political guidelines and priorities for the development of the Organization at the highest level. Each meeting is preceded by a preparatory conference during which diplomats from the contracting parties oversee the implementation of key legal commitments made by the OSCE. They agree on the positions of the participants and prepare basic documents for the upcoming summit. During the existence of the CSCE/OSCE, 6 summits have been held. The most significant were:

Helsinki summit(1975), culminating in the signing of the Final Act, which is the founding document of the CSCE/OSCE;

paris summit(1990), which culminated in the signing of the Charter for a New Europe and the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. The Charter confirmed the decisions of the OSCE Vienna Meeting (1986) and documented the priority of international law over national law, which further led to the strengthening of separatist movements in the USSR and Eastern Europe;

budapest summit(1994) culminated in a series of institutional reforms. The CSCE was turned into a permanent organization of the OSCE, the contracting parties paid additional attention to the problems of resolving the Karabakh conflict, etc.;

istanbul summit(1999), culminating in the signing of the Charter for European Security. During the meeting, the Russian delegation was severely criticized because of Moscow's policy in Chechnya. Russia pledged to reduce its military presence in Transcaucasia and Transnistria.

Council of Foreign Ministers. A kind of "substitute" for summits is the Council of Foreign Ministers (CMFA), which usually meets in those years when there are no Summits. The Ministerial Council also elects the OSCE Secretary General for a three-year term. Its main function is to provide organizational support to the Chairman-in-Office. The Office of the Secretary General provides operational support to the OSCE under the direct supervision of the Secretary General. The powers of the secretariat include: support for OSCE missions and projects; contacts with international governmental and non-governmental organizations; coordination of OSCE policy in the field of economy and environmental protection. The press and information department, administrative, financial services, as well as recruitment, conference organization and information technology services are also under the responsibility of the Secretariat.

In practice, the OSCE is led by the Chairman-in-Office, who is re-elected every year and who is the Minister for Foreign Affairs of one of the countries that are members of the OSCE. The Chairman is responsible for the direct implementation of the decisions taken by the Ministerial Council and the Summits. He also carries out the overall coordination of the activities of the OSCE. The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is composed of approximately 300 deputies representing the legislative branch of the OSCE participating States. The main purpose of the Assembly is parliamentary control and the involvement of European deputies in the activities of the Organization. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights is, in fact, the main division of the OSCE for monitoring the observance of human rights, basic democratic freedoms in the OSCE participating States. The Bureau is also called upon to assist in the development of demographic institutions in the "zone of responsibility" of the OSCE. In turn, the Representative on Freedom of the Media monitors the development of the situation with the media in the OSCE states and issues the first warning to the governments of the participating States about violations of freedom of speech in their countries. In particular, such a warning was recently issued in 2002 to Turkmenistan.

Within the framework of the OSCE structures dealing with the observance of human rights, attention should be paid to the office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities (The Hague). This unit deals with the early warning of ethnic conflicts that threaten stability, peace on the continent and friendly relations between the participating States of the CSCE.

A special place in the organizational structure of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is occupied by Confidence and Security Building Measures. This program was created with the aim of easing tension and strengthening mutual trust on the European continent. Within its framework, such documents were signed as: a) CFE(Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe), establishing quotas for conventional arms in Europe for contracting parties; Open Skies Treaty, which allows the participating states to exercise mutual control over each other's actions, especially in the field of security. As part of the Confidence and Security Building Measures, the Chairman-in-Office appointed his personal representatives to oversee the implementation of a number of articles of the Dayton Peace Accords. The Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, located in Geneva, was established to resolve conflict situations and disputes between the participating States that signed the Convention on Conciliation and Arbitration internal to the OSCE.

In 2003 the budget of the OSCE amounted to 185.7 million euros and mainly consists of the membership dues of the participating states. About 84 per cent of all funds are spent on military missions and projects carried out by the Organization in the field.

About 370 employees work directly in the OSCE headquarters, and in various missions and projects of this organization - more than 1,000 international employees and 2,000 citizens of those countries on whose territory these missions are carried out.

According to many experts, the CSCE/OSCE has gone through three main stages in its development. At the first stage, priority was given to human rights and cultural cooperation. The "détente" in relations between the USSR and the United States that began in the 1970s made possible multilateral negotiations on the military aspects of security in Europe. It was during this period (1986–1992) that such documents as the CFE Treaty (1990), the Open Skies Treaty (1992), etc. were signed. Then, the collapse of the USSR radically changed the agenda: the CSCE/OSCE began to pay more and more attention to preventive diplomacy, conflict prevention and crisis management, and the promotion of common democratic values ​​outlined in the Charter of Paris for a New Europe. This was primarily due to a change in the “priority of threats” itself: while the military confrontation along the East-West line is a thing of the past, the intensity of ethnic conflicts in the Balkans and in the CIS countries has increased dramatically.

The OSCE played a certain peacekeeping role in the first half of the 1990s, but after the failures in Yugoslavia, NATO and then the EU were pushed into the background. Lacking either effective tools for pursuing a "peace enforcement" policy or the political will to act, the OSCE has largely been replaced by other actors in European security. The general principle of consensus in an organization consisting of 53 states with different interests also did not contribute to increasing the effectiveness of the CSCE/OSCE.

Failures in peacekeeping did not prevent, however, the Organization from returning in the late 1990s to the problem of observance of human rights, fundamental democratic freedoms and common European values, which is currently the main area of ​​activity of this organization. Online materials - OSCE website: http://www.osce.org

Danila Bochkarev

Literature:

Final Document of the Vienna Meeting of Representatives of the CSCE Participating States. M., Politizdat, 1986
Kortunov A.V. CSCE and prospects for creating a system of collective security in Eurasia. - in the book. Kortunov A.V. Russia and the West: Models of Integration. M., RNF-ROPTs, 1994
Smuts M. International organizations and inequality of states. International Journal of Social Sciences. November, 1995
From Helsinki to Budapest: A History of the CSCE/OSCE in Documents (1973-1994), M.: Nauka, 1997
Goldin G.G. OSCE and Transnistria. - Tutorial. G.G. Goldin, V.V. Matyash - M., Dip. Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, 2000
Benediktov K. Russia and the OSCE: Real and Imaginary Opportunities for Cooperation // Russia and the Main Security Institutions in Europe: Entering the 21st Century/ Carnegie Moscow Center; ed. Trenina D. - M., S & P, 2000
Petrakov M. "Teachers" and "students" in the OSCE// International life. - 2001, No. 9
Zagorsky A.V. Helsinki Process. M., Human Rights, 2005



OSCE (from English OSCE - Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, French Organization pour la sécurité et la coopération en Europe) - Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The world's largest regional security organization. It unites 57 countries located in North America, Europe and Central Asia.

The OSCE was established on 1 August 1975 in Helsinki, Finland, where 35 heads of state signed the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Accords) that day.

Goals and tasks of the OSCE

The main goal of the OSCE is the prevention of conflicts in the region, the settlement of crisis situations, and the elimination of the consequences of conflicts.

Basic means of ensuring security and solving the main tasks of the organization:

1) "The first basket", or political-military dimension:

• arms proliferation control;
• diplomatic efforts to prevent conflicts;
• measures to build trust and security.

2) "Second basket", or economic and environmental dimension:

• economic and environmental security.

3) "Third basket", or the human dimension:

• protection of human rights;
• development of democratic institutions;
• election monitoring.

All OSCE participating States enjoy equal status. Decisions are made by consensus. They are not legally binding, but are of great political importance.

The staff of the organization is about 370 people employed in the governing bodies of the organization, as well as about 3,500 employees working in field missions.

OSCE participants

• Austria
• Malta
• Azerbaijan
• Moldova
• Albania
• Monaco
• Andorra
• Mongolia
• Armenia
• Netherlands
• Belarus
• Norway
• Belgium
• Poland
• Bulgaria
• Portugal
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Russia
• Vatican
• Romania
• Great Britain
• San Marino
• Hungary
• Serbia
• Germany
• Slovakia
• Greece
• Slovenia
• Georgia
• Denmark
• Tajikistan
• Ireland
• Turkmenistan
• Iceland
• Türkiye
• Spain
• Uzbekistan
• Italy
• Ukraine
• Kazakhstan
• Finland
• Canada
• France
• Croatia
• Kyrgyzstan
• Montenegro
• Latvia
• Czech
• Lithuania
• Switzerland
• Liechtenstein
• Sweden
• Luxembourg
• Estonia
• Macedonia

OSCE Partners

• Algeria
• Afghanistan
• Egypt
• Israel
• South Korea
• Jordan
• Thailand
• Morocco
• Japan
• Tunisia
• Australia

Structure of the OSCE

The main organs of the organization are:

• Summit (high-level meeting) is a periodically held meeting of the heads of state and government of the OSCE countries.
• The Council of Foreign Ministers is an annual (except for the year of summit meetings) meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the OSCE participating States.
• A permanent council led by a chairperson-in-office (CiO) who holds this post for a year. Conducts regular political consultations and makes decisions (meets weekly in Vienna).
• Forum for Security Cooperation - regularly discusses arms control and CSBMs (meets weekly in Vienna).
• High Commissioner for National Minorities.
• OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
• OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
• Representative on Freedom of the Media - monitors media developments in 56 OSCE participating States.

Official languages ​​of the OSCE

The official languages ​​of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are:

• English,
• Spanish,
• Italian,
• German,
• Russian,
• French.

OSCE Leadership

The Chairman-in-Office (the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Chairman-country becomes the Minister of Foreign Affairs) is in charge of the current activities of the OSCE. Coordinates the work of OSCE agencies/institutions. Represents the organization, observes and facilitates conflict and crisis resolution.

At the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in early December 2013 in Kyiv, Switzerland was elected as the OSCE Chairman in 2014, led by the current President Didier Burkhalter.

The Secretary General is in charge of the secretariat. Appointed by the Council of Ministers for a term of 3 years. From 2011 to the present, he has been Lamberto Zannier.

OSCE budget

The OSCE's consolidated budget consists of two parts: the Secretariat and Institutions budget and the Field Operations budget. In 2013, the budget of the organization amounted to 145 million euros.

OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) is an unarmed civilian mission whose main tasks are to impartially and objectively observe and report on the situation in eastern Ukraine, and to facilitate dialogue between all parties to the conflict. The SMM began its work on March 21, 2014 in connection with the appeal of the Government of Ukraine to the OSCE and the common decision of all OSCE participating States. The mandate of the mission is renewed every six months.

Introduction

security cooperation information

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) - an international regional political association of 56 states of Europe, Central Asia and North America based on common goals and principles of security and cooperation. Founded in 1975 year in the form of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). The OSCE (until January 1, 1995 - CSCE), recognized as a regional agreement within the meaning of Chapter VIII of the UN Charter, is considered as one of the main organizations for the peaceful settlement of disputes in the region its actions as one of the key tools for early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict reconstruction.

The OSCE operates on the basis of the concept of common and comprehensive security, which combines three dimensions - military-political, economic, environmental and humanitarian; guided by the principles of equal partnership, solidarity and transparency. All participating States have equal status.

The governing bodies discuss the security issues of concern to states and make decisions on these issues. All decisions are made by consensus. They are not legally binding, but carry the political obligations of States.

The supreme body of the OSCE is the summits, which are held by agreement of states, as a rule, once every two or three years, depending on the requirements of the international political situation. In years when summits are not held, meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CMFA) are held.

The permanent governing body of the OSCE is the Permanent Council, which meets in Vienna at the level of permanent representatives of the participating States. Created by the decision of the Rome Ministerial Council in 1993.

The coordinating role in the work of the organization and its collective bodies is performed by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, whose functions are entrusted to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the presiding state.

Military-political issues, including disarmament, arms control, confidence-building measures, etc., are discussed at the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSB), which meets in Vienna weekly at the level of state representatives. The Forum was established in 1992 by the decision of the Helsinki Summit.

The OSCE Economic Forum, which is convened annually in Prague, deals with topical issues of pan-European economic and environmental cooperation.

Human dimension issues are discussed at the annual Humanitarian Implementation Review Conferences held in Warsaw.

The OSCE Secretariat is located in Vienna. Headed by the General Secretary. Consists of seven divisions. These are: the office of the Secretary General; center for conflict prevention; coordinator of economic and environmental activities; senior police adviser; Department of Support Services and Budget; department of human resources; Prague office (archive).

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has been operating in Warsaw since 1990. Engaged in assistance in holding elections and monitoring them, supporting democratic institutions, NGOs, human rights, etc.

The High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) has been operating since 1992 in The Hague. A tool for preventive diplomacy. Its main task is to prevent conflicts on ethnic grounds at the earliest possible stage.

The Representative on Freedom of the Media has been based in Vienna since 1997. Provides assistance to governments of states in the development of a free press.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was established in 1991 as an independent parliamentary structure. Consists of parliamentarians from OSCE countries who meet twice a year for summer and winter sessions in one of the participating States. Assembly resolutions are not binding on governments.

There are 17 missions and field presences of the Organization in the OSCE area. The headquarters of the OSCE is located in Vienna (Austria).

Relevance of the topic.

In today's world, which is on the threshold of a new millennium, security issues are more important than ever. Together with environmental issues, the fight against international crime and economic issues, they will become the most relevant for the coming century. The world community has repeatedly tried to work out a single mechanism for the joint maintenance of security.

This process dates back to the time of the formation of the League of Nations and remains one of the most relevant to this day. Naturally, numerous contradictions between groups of powers, social and political differences, aspects of foreign policy concepts have always been destabilizing in attempts to develop a single mechanism for all.

The created structures often turn out to be incapable or not authoritative enough to make and, most importantly, implement decisions related to the maintenance of peace and stability. The current situation is no exception. The process of détente, the direct result of which was the creation of the OSCE, seems to have stalled indefinitely, which calls into question the effectiveness of international mechanisms designed to promote world peace and openness. In a situation where the most important body for maintaining international security - the UN Security Council - turned out to be insufficiently authoritative in preventing a war that risks bringing peace back to the times of the Cold War, it is hard to talk about the constructive role of other regional peacekeeping entities, among which is OSCE. However, the potential of this organization is enormous, and it has yet to use all its capabilities to put into practice its goals and principles.

The purpose of the work is to characterize the OSCE.

The object of the study is the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The subject of the study is the competence and functions of the OSCE.

1. General Provisions

OSCE (eng. OSCE, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, fr. Organization pour la sé curité et la coopé ratio en Europe) - Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the world's largest regional organization dealing with security issues. It unites 56 countries located in North America, Europe and Central Asia.

Former name: Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe - CSCE).

.1 MainpoliticalcharacteristicsOSCE

Commonality of core standards, duties and obligations

Political and geographic “inclusiveness”

A comprehensive range of issues, including the human, economic, environmental and military-political dimensions

Legitimate right to consider the internal affairs of the participating states using political means

· Political but non-legally binding CSCE/OSCE commitments

1.2 Competence of the OSCE

The OSCE is the largest regional organization, which currently includes 56 states of North America, Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

The OSCE is a key institution in the process of change on the continent at the present stage. This is the only regional structure uniting the states of the Eurasian-Atlantic area from Vladivostok to Vancouver. It is also the only place for comprehensive dialogue and cooperation on many issues (security, economy, human rights).

The concept of comprehensive security is reflected in the three security dimensions of the OSCE:

· The military-political dimension refers exclusively to the sphere of international and interstate relations, mainly to their military aspects. It includes disarmament, arms control, confidence- and security-building measures and security dialogue.

· The economic and environmental dimension includes monitoring economic and environmental developments in the participating States in order to prevent possible threats of conflict, as well as to help determine economic and environmental policies and initiatives to maintain security in the OSCE area, especially during transitional periods.

The human dimension refers to the OSCE commitments made by participating States to ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, to recognize the rule of law, to promote the principles of democracy and, accordingly, to establish, strengthen and protect democratic institutions, and to promote tolerance in the OSCE region.

The OSCE is the only institution that has created and developed mechanisms to prevent various types of conflicts threatening security and ways to manage them throughout the European space.

1.3 History of the creation of the OSCE

In 1954, at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the four great powers (USA, Great Britain, France and the USSR), the USSR proposed for the first time a conference on security in Europe. The US and its allies rejected this proposal because it was put forward as an alternative to NATO and did not involve the US. However, with the improvement of the political climate in the late 60s, the NATO states began to consider the issue of expanding the process of detente of international tension in Europe.

NATO's key premise for holding a security conference in Europe came a few years later, in 1971, with the signing of the Quadripartite Agreement between the US, UK, France and the USSR. In 1972-1975, consultations were held in Geneva and Helsinki, which created the basis for the formation of a diplomatic forum consisting of 35 states, including almost all European countries, as well as the USA and Canada. The uniqueness of the forum, called the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), was that countries belonging to different socio-political systems and included in opposing military structures - NATO and the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO), as well as neutral and non-aligned states have managed to organize a constant process of dialogue and negotiations on topical issues of ensuring peace and stability on the continent.

The first significant result of the activities of the CSCE was the Final Act, adopted in Helsinki in 1975, which determined the principles of relations between states (the “Helsinki Dialogue”), and also outlined concrete steps to develop cooperation in a number of areas.

The continuation of this line was the meetings of representatives of the CSCE states in Belgrade (1977-1978), Madrid (1980-1983), Vienna (1986-1989), the organization of scientific (Bonn, 1980) and cultural (Budapest, 1985) forums, holding conferences on economic cooperation (Bonn, 1990), on the human dimension (Copenhagen, 1990; Moscow, 1991), on the Mediterranean (Palma de Mallorca, 1990).

Within the framework of the CSCE, for the first time, the principles of universal and indivisible security based on cooperation were developed, when the security of one state in all dimensions is inextricably linked with the security of all other participating countries of the Organization.

The historic, landmark 1990 Summit adopted the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, the first multilateral document that summed up the Cold War and ushered in a new era in East-West relations on the European continent. The Charter also reflected the decision to institutionalize the CSCE. The Council of Foreign Ministers, the Permanent Council, the Forum for Security Cooperation, the Parliamentary Assembly, the institution of the Chairman-in-Office, the Secretariat, the ODIHR and other institutions were created, which gave the work of the Conference a systematic character.

Ensuring military detente on the continent became an important direction of the Conference's activity. Concrete measures to increase mutual confidence in the military field were determined by the Helsinki Final Act; their further development and deepening were envisaged by the relevant documents adopted in Stockholm (1986) and Vienna (1990). Within the framework of the CSCE, negotiations were underway on the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (1990), the signing of which was a landmark event in strengthening stability on the continent. In accordance with the commitments made within the CSCE regarding greater openness and transparency in the military activities of the participating States, the Treaty on Open Skies was signed in 1992.

On the whole, by the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, the CSCE made an extremely important contribution to the stabilization of the situation in the European region and the development of pan-European cooperation. The end of the Cold War in Europe was largely the result of the activities of the CSCE and objectively placed this structure at the center of the post-confrontational phase of international political development on the continent.

Alongside its work on confidence-building measures and arms control, the CSCE has taken on new roles of facilitating conflict resolution in the former USSR and the Western Balkans, and supporting political processes in Central Europe and Eurasia.

The collapse of the socialist bloc and then the Soviet Union, as well as the cardinal changes that occurred as a result of this in the European international political landscape, could not but leave a noticeable imprint on the activities of the CSCE. The second stage of the Conference's activities covers the nineties of the last century, marked by the admission of new members and institutional development. During this period, a broad institutional framework was created that allows solving a wide range of problems related to the first, second and third dimensions. A characteristic feature of the 90s was significant innovations implemented in a number of areas, and at the same time the ongoing debate about the functional purpose of this structure.

Steps were taken to institutionalize the CSCE and its structural consolidation. This, in particular, was aimed at by the decisions of the Paris Summit (1990). In 1992, at the summit in Helsinki, the document "The Challenge of the Times of Change" and a package of decisions of an organizational nature were adopted. In 1994, at the Budapest Summit, it was decided to transform the CSCE from a negotiating forum into a permanent organization and, since 1995, call it the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

There has been a significant expansion of the circle of OSCE participants. All post-Soviet states, as well as countries that emerged on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, were admitted to the Organization. As a result, 56 states are currently participating in the OSCE. This, undoubtedly, gave it a more representative character and, at the same time, became a factor contributing to the integration into the world community of the new states that emerged in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. However, if previously these regions were part of the "European space" as part of the Soviet Union, now the countries that have arisen in them are directly represented in the OSCE. Thus, the OSCE zone extends geographically far beyond the borders of Europe.

It should be noted that until about the second half of the 1990s, no one in the OSCE questioned the equivalence and equivalence of the three dimensions, or, as they are also called, “baskets” (military-political, economic-environmental, and humanitarian). The participating States have consistently developed activities in all areas. Each of them had its own milestones - the signing of the CFE Treaty, the creation of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and the holding of economic forums. Then, however, there was a tendency towards an accelerating “drift” of the OSCE into the field of humanitarian issues. while reducing activity in the military-political and economic fields.

Since the second half of the 1990s, due to the shift in emphasis in the OSCE activities to the humanitarian direction, there has been a tendency to shift the geographical center of gravity of activities to the post-Soviet space and the Balkans.

In some respects, the changes simply reflected the specifics of the new time and new needs: with the cessation of the former military confrontation, the relevance of military-political activity has decreased, and other existing international organizations can more effectively play the leading role in the economic sphere.

At the Istanbul Summit in 1999, a Charter for European Security was adopted, providing for the improvement of the operational capabilities of the OSCE. At the same time, 30 member states of the Organization signed the Agreement on Adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, the third stage in the activities of the OSCE has begun. During this period, active work began to eliminate imbalances in the work of the Organization, adapt its agenda to new challenges and threats to security, including international terrorism, and reform institutions to make their work more coordinated. The Organization has assumed the role of an important instrument for the peaceful settlement of disputes in the OSCE area and one of the main instruments in the field of early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict reconstruction.

In general, the uniqueness of the OSCE lies in the breadth of its geographical coverage. The principle of equality of states is enshrined in the rule of consensus in decision-making. This is sometimes called a weak point, but if all participating countries are unanimously supported, the decision carries enormous political weight. Such a system serves as a kind of guarantee that the interests of each country are taken into account and an incentive for their active interaction with each other.

The OSCE currently occupies a special position compared to other structures in Europe. The organization deals with a wide range of issues related to strengthening security, including arms control, preventive diplomacy, confidence- and security-building measures, post-conflict management, economic and environmental security, human rights, and election observation.

The value of the OSCE also lies in the fact that it is able to bring “added value” to the work of other multilateral forums operating in the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian regions, since it is practically the only European security organization directly involved in preventive diplomacy in Europe.

Traditionally, a number of regional problems are in the field of view of the OSCE.

Thus, since 1992, the Institute of the Minsk Group has been working on a complex of problems related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the leadership of three co-chairs - France, Russia and the United States.

In order to facilitate the negotiation process on the settlement of the Georgian-South Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhazian conflicts, the OSCE mission in Georgia was established in December 1992 (at the same time, the UN plays a central role in the Georgian-Abkhazian settlement).

Since 1994, a five-party negotiating mechanism has been involved in the negotiation process to resolve the Transnistrian conflict, consisting of Russia, Ukraine, the EU, the United States and the OSCE Mission in Moldova, which ensured the signing of more than 40 documents between the conflicting parties.

In 1998, the OSCE established a mission in Kosovo to assist in the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions 1160 and 1199.

Over the past 30 years, the OSCE participating States have developed a comprehensive set of standards and agreed commitments that can serve as the basis for cooperation covering the military-political, economic-environmental and human dimensions. The OSCE has become a point of reference and point of contact for its participating States, which turn to it at the most delicate moments in their modern history.

Thanks to the efforts of the OSCE, it was possible to achieve a peaceful resolution in 1992 of the issue of the presence of Russian (formerly Soviet) military units on the territory of the Baltic States. The OSCE initiated negotiations that resulted in bilateral agreements between Russia and each of the Baltic states on the withdrawal of troops, and the OSCE became the guarantor of their implementation.

It should also be noted that, with the assistance of the UN, the CIS and the OSCE, the intra-Tajik conflict has come to an end.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia can be mentioned as an example of the OSCE's successful activities in the prevention and resolution of a crisis situation, the population of which escaped casualties and misfortunes as a result of the armed conflict at the beginning of its independence, largely thanks to the activities of the OSCE mission in Skopje. Later, in 2001, the internal crisis on interethnic grounds was also resolved thanks to the assistance of the OSCE.

In 2006, the OSCE played a vital role in the peaceful birth of the Republic of Montenegro, the Organization's 56th participating State and the youngest member of the European family of nations.

2. Structure of the OSCE

The OSCE bodies are subdivided into directive, informal auxiliary and working groups, meetings, etc.

The highest structural level of the first category and the entire hierarchy of OSCE bodies as a whole are the meetings of heads of state and government that assess the situation in the OSCE region and develop new main areas of activity (the last Summit was held in 1999 in Istanbul).

The central decision-making body is the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which meets annually at its sessions, within which all issues are considered, relevant decisions are made, and the results of each chairmanship are summed up.

The main decision-making body for political consultations and current decision-making is the Permanent Council, stationed in Vienna and including the permanent representatives of the participating States. The Permanent Council, along with regular meetings, may also be convened in case of emergency.

The overall direction of the operational activities of the OSCE is provided by the Chairman-in-Office (CIO). These functions are performed alternately by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the participating countries for one year. The Chairman-in-Office relies on the assistance of the previous and subsequent Chairmen (together they form the institution of the OSCE Troika), can appoint and send the Special Envoy and special/personal representatives, and initiate the creation of task forces.

There are currently eight representatives of the OSCE CiO:

· Special Representative for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (the post was established by the decision of the Ministerial Council in Maastricht in December 2003. The office is located at the OSCE Headquarters in Vienna. Since October 2006, this post has been occupied by Eva Biode, Finland);

· three Personal Representatives for Tolerance and Non-Discrimination (for Christians and people of other faiths; for anti-Semitism; for Muslims; first appointed in December 2004);

· Personal representative for the implementation of Art. IV Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Dayton Accords, since 1996).

· Personal representative for the conflict under consideration at the Minsk Conference (Nagorno-Karabakh, since 1995).

· Head of the High Level Planning Group for the OSCE Multinational Peacekeeping Force (since 1994).

· OSCE Representative in the Latvian-Russian Joint Commission on Military Pensioners (since 1995).

The Greek Presidency has appointed new additional representatives for 2009:

· A Special Envoy representing the CiO at a high level;

· Special Representative for Frozen Conflicts;

· Personal Representatives for Cooperation Groups with OSCE Mediterranean and Asian Partners.

Also, the Greek Chairmanship is considering the possibility of appointing a personal representative on the legal personality of the OSCE.

The chief administrative officer of the Organization is the Secretary General (SG), elected for three years by the Council of Ministers (with the right to a single extension for a similar period), and head of the OSCE Secretariat (based in Vienna). The functions of the SG include the management of the structures and operations of the OSCE. In the summer of 2005, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut (France) was elected to this post, and his candidacy was approved at the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in December 2005 in Ljubljana. In June 2008, the OSCE Permanent Council decided to extend the term of office of M.P. de Brichambaut.

The OSCE Secretariat consists of the following units:

· Office of the Secretary General;

Department of Management and Finance;

· Personnel department;

· Prague office of archives and documentation;

· Department of preparation and trainings;

· Anti-Terrorist Section of the OSCE (created in 2002, located at the OSCE Headquarters in Vienna; Acting Head of the Section - D. Zhalnev (Bulgaria);

· Department for Assistance in Combating Trafficking in Human Beings;

· The Conflict Prevention Center (CPC), is responsible for supporting OSCE activities in the field of early warning, conflict prevention and crisis management, and is the main coordinating body for the work of OSCE field missions. Located at the OSCE Headquarters in Vienna; Since August 23, 2006, Ambassador G. Salber (Germany) has been the Director of the Center; there is a branch in Prague (archives and distribution of documentation);

· Office of the OSCE Coordinator for Economic and Environmental Activities (since December 2008 - G. Svilanovich (Serbia), coordinates the implementation of projects by OSCE missions in these areas, ensures the work of the Economic and Environmental Forum);

· Department of external cooperation with other partner organizations;

· Department of Strategic Police Issues (contributes to the strengthening of the internal affairs bodies of individual participating countries (Balkans, Central Asia) in the context of the rule of law and respect for human rights.

The main directions of the current activities of the CPC:

arms control;

border security and management;

· confidence- and security-building measures;

· early warning of local security problems;

· Evaluation of OSCE program activities in the field;

· promotion of regional initiatives;

· Systematic consideration of gender issues in the activities of the OSCE;

· Lessons learned from experience as a guide for field activities;

· Management of the OSCE Communications Network;

• Mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of disputes;

operations planning;

· political and analytical support for the work of the Chairmanship;

· project management;

· projects related to the destruction of small arms and light weapons and conventional ammunition;

support for local activities;

· Supporting the work of the Forum for Security Cooperation;

Support for the political dialogue of the participating states;

· Performance-based training and support for program budgeting.

The Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) is composed of permanent representatives of the delegations of the OSCE participating States and meets on specific measures to enhance security and stability in the OSCE area at the OSCE Headquarters in Vienna on a weekly basis. The task of the forum also includes organizing negotiations on arms control, disarmament and confidence-building measures, reducing the risk of conflicts; regular security consultations; organization of annual meetings to assess the implementation of confidence- and security-building measures (OSCE meeting category) and seminars on military doctrines. The order of chairmanship of the FSB is determined by the French alphabet (3 countries, replacing each other during the year, the RK will chair in the last third of 2011).

The Economic and Environmental Forum, also related to the OSCE Meetings, was established in 1992 under the name of the Prague Forum in order to increase the Organization's attention to the issues of transitional economies and the development of free market relations, considering these processes as a significant contribution to building democracy and strengthening stability. The forum received its modern name in 1996. Each current OSCE Chairmanship determines the main theme of the forum for the year. In previous years, the issues of soil degradation and pollution and water management (Spain), transport development (Belgium), etc. have been considered. Forum meetings are held twice during the first half of the year (as well as 2 preparatory conferences).

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) was founded in 1991. Meetings are held once a year. The secretariat is located in Copenhagen. At the 17th session of the PA, held in Astana on June 29 - July 3, 2008, the representative of Portugal J. Soares was elected as the new Chairman of the Assembly.

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is responsible for promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Serves as a forum for meetings and meetings of experts on the implementation of human dimension commitments. The ODIHR provides an institutional framework for the exchange of information on the development of democratic institutions and the conduct of elections in OSCE participating States.

OSCE Mandate

The ODIHR has a mandate to assist OSCE participating States in their efforts to “ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, operate on the basis of the rule of law, enforce the principles of democracy, and … build, strengthen and protect democratic institutions and to develop the principles of tolerant attitude throughout society”. (Helsinki Document 1992)

The ODIHR serves as a point of contact for liaison with non-governmental organizations, provides support to OSCE missions in the field of the human dimension and activities for the implementation of coordinated assistance programs. Provides expert assistance and training to specialists in constitutional and legal issues.

The headquarters of the ODIHR is located in Warsaw. Since July 1, 2008, J. Lenarcic (Slovenia) has been the Director of the Bureau.

ODIHR (Annex 1.)

The Bureau's activities cover five main areas: elections, democratization, human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination, Roma and Sinti issues.

ODIHR activities in these areas include:

■ Election observation to assess compliance with OSCE election-related commitments, often conducted in conjunction with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and other parliamentary associations, and providing assistance to improve electoral processes;

■ Strengthening the rule of law, for example, through assistance aimed at achieving compliance with OSCE commitments regarding the independence of the judiciary, access to legal aid and the right to access a court, and criminal justice in general;

■ assisting participating States to bring their legislation in line with OSCE commitments by reviewing legislation and supporting national initiatives to improve the efficiency and transparency of their legislative systems, often in cooperation with the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe;

■ promoting freedom of movement and respect for the rights of migrants, for example by helping governments implement population registration systems that meet international standards;

■ creating an enabling environment for strengthening democratic governance by supporting governments in strengthening democratic practices, with particular attention to the legal framework governing political parties and women's participation in public life;

■ strengthening the capacity of human rights defenders and expanding their cooperation with state bodies and national institutions in the field of human rights;

■ assisting governments to increase their capacity to identify, protect and support victims of trafficking in persons;

■ providing counter-terrorism training in line with international human rights obligations;

■ Implementing human rights education and training activities to raise awareness of human rights and build the capacity of civil society to monitor the observance of human rights, including freedom of assembly;

■ assisting governments in their fight against hate crimes and other violent manifestations of intolerance, for example by training law enforcement officials and building the capacity of civil society to monitor and report on hate crimes;

■ Promoting freedom of religion or belief through legislative reviews and other activities implemented by the ODIHR Expert Council;

■ promoting the rights of Roma and Sinti peoples through the ODIHR Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues;

■ organizing annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meetings, which review progress made by governments in implementing them, and provide a forum for NGOs to freely discuss issues of concern.

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities identifies cases of inter-ethnic tension and contributes to their speedy resolution. Appointed for three years. The headquarters is located in The Hague. Since July 4, 2007 this post has been occupied by K.Vollebek (Norway).

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media assists the governments of member states in developing free and independent media based on OSCE principles. Since March 10, 2004 this post has been occupied by M. Haraszti (Hungary).

Unfortunately, freedom of the media in the OSCE region continues to be under threat. The following are some of the existing issues addressed by the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media:

· Harassment, physical attacks and even killings of members of the media.

· Limitation of pluralism in the media due to excessive state interference in the field of radio and television broadcasting; favoritism towards the surviving state-run print media, discrimination by the administrative authorities against non-governmental media.

· Non-recognition of the right of journalists to investigate information related to the conduct of state bodies.

· Forcing journalists to disclose their sources of information to law enforcement agencies.

· Attempts to qualify statements that offend honor and dignity, or critical views as “extremist” and deserving of punishment.

· Criminal prosecution of journalists for professional errors, such as defamation, which could be dealt with under civil law or media self-regulation mechanisms.

· Excessive control and excessive regulation of the Internet by the state.

The main areas of current activities of the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media:

· Holding annual conferences for journalists in the regions of the South Caucasus and Central Asia, which provide a unique forum for establishing professional connections on a personal level, exchanging views on the situation of the media in the region and discussing issues of interest to journalists.

· Protecting the rights of journalists, for example, in the event of harassment, physical assault or murder.

· Protecting the right of journalists to conduct their own investigation by supporting efforts to decriminalize "disclosure of state secrets" when they publish classified information and protect their rights to anonymize sources of confidential information.

· Continuous efforts to reclassify offenses of defamation and insult from the category of criminal law to the scope of civil law.

· Formation of databases on the legislation in force in the member states that regulates the activities of the mass media.

· Joint training of government public relations officials and journalists.

· Promoting the formation of self-regulation mechanisms.

· Conducting legal due diligence to assist participating States in reforming media laws.

· Strengthening the role of public broadcasting.

· Development of pluralism by promoting the privatization of the media and the commercialization of new media at an early stage.

· Protecting the principles of freedom of the media on the Internet.

· Identification of freedom-of-speech issues arising from technological change.

· Combating hate speech while maintaining freedom of expression.

2.1 OSCE missions

OSCE missions serve the purposes of conflict prevention, crisis management, and development assistance in specific areas. Their mandate is to reach out and develop dialogue with stakeholders on the ground.

There are currently 18 OSCE missions. Missions are the main expression of the work of the Organization and are usually sent to countries that the OSCE considers need assistance to implement political decisions. In general terms, the tasks and objectives of the missions are as follows: to contribute to those political processes that aim to prevent or resolve existing conflicts, to promote the development of civil society and institutions, and to ensure that OSCE representatives are informed in a timely manner about the developments in the situation in a given country or region.

Also within the framework of the OSCE there are the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration (dispute settlement through conciliation, Geneva), the Joint Consultative Group (JCG - compliance with the provisions of the CFE Treaty), the Consultative Commission on Open Skies (OSSC - promoting the implementation of the Open Skies Treaty of 1992).

2.2 OSCE participants

The OSCE brings together 56 countries located in North America, Europe and Central Asia. (Appendix 3)

.3 Languages ​​and OSCE Staff

The official languages ​​of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian.

The staff of the organization - about 370 people employed in the governing bodies of the organization, as well as about 3,500 employees working in field missions.

3. Mechanism, problems and functions of the OSCE

.1 OSCE mechanism of action

OSCE missions and other representations in various regions are the main expression of the work of the organization. They are sent to countries that, according to the OSCE, need help to implement political decisions. As the OSCE already operates in all phases of conflict development: early warning, preventive diplomacy, assistance in conflict resolution, post-conflict rehabilitation. In general terms, the tasks and objectives of the missions are as follows:

contribute to those political processes that aim to prevent or resolve the conflict, as well as ensure timely information of the OSCE representatives on the development of the situation in a given country or region. The tasks, goals and involvement of missions in the processes taking place in a particular country can vary significantly, emphasizing the flexibility of this settlement tool.

For all missions, however, the key issues are social, democracy and the rule of law. OSCE missions also differ in the number of representatives, ranging from four (OSCE Engagement Missions in Central Asia, OSCE Centers in Almaty, Ashgabat and Bishkek) to more than two thousand (Mission in Kosovo).

All missions cooperate with international and non-governmental organizations in their areas of work.

OSCE missions are represented in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Macedonia, and Ukraine. The OSCE is also represented in Chechnya, Albania, Belarus, Central Asia, Alma-Ata, Ashgabat, Bishkek.

Missions and other representations are usually sent by decision of the Permanent Council with the agreement of the host country. Initially, they are usually deployed for a period of six months to one year, and renewed as needed. Most members of the missions are nominated by participating States and come from civilian or military institutions.

Missions are headed by heads of missions, representatives of the OSCE member states, who are appointed by the chairman of the organization. The activities of the mission are managed and supported by the Secretariat's Conflict Prevention Centre, the Department of Command and Operations and the OSCE Chairperson.

The missions began their activities in the first half of the 1990s. Their creation was caused by the need to "prevent the flare-up of intrastate conflicts that are possible when changing the regimes of state government in

Eastern Europe"7.

The zone of the OSCE's closest attention is southeastern Europe.

The four largest missions in the region are the OSCE Mission to Kosovo, the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the OSCE Mission to Croatia and the OSCE Office in Albania. The fifth mission is in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Balkans is the first region to which OSCE missions have been sent. These were missions to Kosovo, Sandyak and Vojvodina in September 1992. and to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (autumn of the same year).

Missions and other representations of the OSCE are also located in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, the two Baltic States and Central Asia. The second chapter examines the activities of the missions by region.

3.2 Problems in the activities of the OSCE

The main challenges facing the OSCE are as follows:

The OSCE area lacks the conditions for an effective security community. It embraces democratic and authoritarian states and extends from the modern, wealthy Western European and North American societies to the poor, traditional societies of Central Asia. This zone lacks the homogeneity, shared values, mutual empathy, and multilateral, intense contacts that the security community requires. And in the near future, nothing will change here.

The OSCE as a system of collective security is incapable. Although it can, through its crisis management mechanisms and against the will of any country, investigate its actions endangering the peace or the violation of the OSCE Charter on its territory (the “consensus minus one” principle), but as soon as it comes to taking concrete measures , all 54 members, including the state concerned, must give their consent to this (a comparison with the UN, where only the consensus of the five permanent and the majority of the remaining members of the Security Council is required).

NATO and the EU are ahead of the OSCE in military and economic security assistance. However, the OSCE has the most progressive international tool for identifying the roots of instability in Europe. Long-term OSCE field missions and the institution of the High Commissioner on National Minorities can help to put into practice the protection of minority rights, early detection of ethno-nationalist conflicts and mediation between the parties in order to prevent the escalation of violence altogether, as well as to establish mutual understanding between the former belligerents after the suspension this escalation. So far, however, this tool has shown its inconsistency.

Consideration should be given to intensifying the OSCE's activities in the field of environmental security, in view of the generality of this issue for all countries. In the environmental field, it is important to intensify efforts to further develop the Environmental Action Program for Central and Eastern Europe, approved in 1993. at a conference in Lucerne, as well as on improving the safety of nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities. The OSCE participating countries should also be actively involved in the implementation of the United Nations Environment Program - UNEP, as well as comply with international agreements on environmental protection, on restoring and maintaining a sustainable ecological balance. Given the paramount importance and urgency of addressing environmental problems, it should be proposed to develop and adopt

An Immediate Action Program or Charter for the Protection of the Environment, as well as the establishment of a Bureau for Cooperation, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Implementation of Existing Environmental Commitments. Measures must be taken regarding the condemnation and punishment of those who destroy the environment, up to and including criminal ones.

It has been repeatedly proposed to develop such areas of OSCE activity as criminogenic, moral and other dimensions. Within the framework of the criminogenic dimension, it would be possible to hold a Council of Ministers of the Interior, Security, Prosecutor's Office and other law enforcement agencies with the involvement of Interpol and Europol, to raise the issue of creating, by analogy, an Agency to Combat Crime within the OSCE.

3.3 FunctionsOSCE

Summing up all of the above, we can single out the main functions of the OSCE:

Prevention of conflicts in the region

Crisis Management

Elimination of the consequences of conflicts

Arms control

Diplomatic efforts to prevent conflicts

Measures to build trust and security

Economic and environmental security

Protection of human rights

Development of Democratic Institutions

Election Monitoring

The OSCE practices a broad and comprehensive approach to security issues, namely: the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms, economic and environmental cooperation are just as important issues in maintaining and strengthening peace and security as political and military issues. Their solution is the main goal of the OSCE activities.

Various aspects are seen as interrelated and interdependent. Throughout the existence of the organization, the member countries have actively contributed to the strengthening of additional measures in various areas of security - political, military, economic, social. Another example of the fact that the OSCE's action is based on an understanding of security as a comprehensive one is the organization's participation in all stages of conflict development, from early warning and conflict prevention to assistance in conflict resolution and post-conflict rehabilitation.

The OSCE operates on a vast territory, mainly in regions that have become the scene of conflicts and armed clashes as a result of the collapse of the socialist system and the Soviet Union. These include the former Soviet republics and, to a large extent, the Balkan countries. Today we can say that the mechanism of action of the OSCE, despite its activity and the presence of an extensive system of bodies, is still ineffective in preventing potential conflicts. However, the analysis of the OSCE missions shows that the organization is very flexible and mobile, and that the issue of its effectiveness may be related to its limited powers. In addition, the world has once again made it clear that issues of specific political ambitions and military-strategic interests are still higher than the abstract "general security." However, the OSCE can concentrate its efforts in other areas, such as environmental protection or the fight against crime, as well as post-conflict rehabilitation, since the conflict prevention mechanism is still incapacitated.

Bibliographic list

1.OSCE official website

Kortunov A.V. CSCE and prospects for creating a system of collective security in Eurasia. - in the book. Kortunov A.V. Russia and the West: Models of Integration. M., RNF-ROPTs, 1994

Smuts M. International organizations and inequality of states. International Journal of Social Sciences. November, 1995

From Helsinki to Budapest: the history of the CSCE/OSCE in documents (1973-1994), M.: Nauka, 1997

Goldin G.G. OSCE and Transnistria. - Tutorial. G.G. Goldin, V.V. Matyash - M., Deep. Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, 2000

Benediktov K. Russia and the OSCE: Real and Imaginary Opportunities for Cooperation // Russia and the Main Security Institutions in Europe: Entering the 21st Century / Carnegie Moscow Center; ed. Trenina D. - M., S & P, 2000

Petrakov M. "Teachers" and "students" in the OSCE // International Affairs. - 2001, No. 9

Compass", No. 50, 12.12.96.

Parkhalina T. On the new architecture of security in Europe// Mirovaya ekonomika i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. No. 12, 1999.

Friedman L. Power Potential and Security Vacuum in Europe// Mirovaya ekonomika i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. No. 2, 1995.

Creation of a new system of European security and the role of international organizations. M., 1996.

Applications

Annex 1

Rice.

Appendix 2

Rice.

Appendix 3

Table

State	Date of entry	State	Date of entry
		Macedonia
Azerbaijan
		Moldova
		Netherlands
Belarus		Norway
Bulgaria		Portugal
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Great Britain		San Marino
Germany		Slovakia
		Slovenia
		Tajikistan
Ireland		Turkmenistan
Iceland
		Uzbekistan
Kazakhstan		Finland
Republic of Cyprus		Croatia
Kyrgyzstan		Montenegro
		Switzerland
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg

The initiative of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to develop a European Security Treaty and reforming the OSCE will be the central topics for the Russian side of the upcoming meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the organization on December 4-5 in Helsinki, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) (Organization for Security and Co‑operation in Europe (OSCE) is an international regional political association of 56 states of Europe, Central Asia and North America based on common goals and principles of security and cooperation. Founded in 1975 year in the form of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).

The OSCE (until January 1, 1995 - CSCE), recognized as a regional agreement within the meaning of Chapter VIII of the UN Charter, is considered as one of the main organizations for the peaceful settlement of disputes in the region of its operation, one of the key tools for early warning, conflict prevention, regulation crises and post-conflict reconstruction.

The OSCE operates on the basis of the concept of common and comprehensive security, which combines three dimensions - military-political, economic, environmental and humanitarian; guided by the principles of equal partnership, solidarity and transparency. All participating States have equal status.

Governing Bodies discuss security issues of concern to states and make decisions on these issues. All decisions are made by consensus. They are not legally binding, but carry the political obligations of States.

The supreme body of the OSCE is summits, which are held by agreement of states, as a rule, once every two or three years, depending on the requirements of the international political situation. In years when summits are not held, meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CMFA) are held.

The permanent governing body of the OSCE is permanent council meeting in Vienna at the level of Permanent Representatives of the participating States. Created by the decision of the Rome Ministerial Council in 1993.

The coordinating role in the work of the organization and its collective bodies is performed by the current chairman OSCE, whose functions are entrusted to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the presiding state.

Military-political issues, including disarmament, arms control, confidence-building measures, etc., are discussed at Forum for Security Cooperation OSCE (FSB), which meets in Vienna weekly at the level of state representatives. The Forum was established in 1992 by the decision of the Helsinki Summit.

On Economic Forum The OSCE, which convenes annually in Prague, deals with topical issues of pan-European economic and environmental cooperation.

Human dimension issues are discussed at the annual Humanitarian Review Conferences held in Warsaw.

OSCE Secretariat located in Vienna. Headed by the General Secretary. Consists of seven divisions. These are: the office of the Secretary General; center for conflict prevention; coordinator of economic and environmental activities; senior police adviser; Department of Support Services and Budget; department of human resources; Prague office (archive).

Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has been working in Warsaw since 1990. Engaged in assistance in holding elections and monitoring them, supporting democratic institutions, NGOs, human rights, etc.

High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) operates since 1992 in The Hague. A tool for preventive diplomacy. Its main task is to prevent conflicts on ethnic grounds at the earliest possible stage.

Representative on Freedom of the Media has been operating since 1997 in Vienna. Provides assistance to governments of states in the development of a free press.

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly established in 1991 as an independent parliamentary structure. Consists of parliamentarians from OSCE countries who meet twice a year for summer and winter sessions in one of the participating States. Assembly resolutions are not binding on governments.

There are 17 missions and field presences of the Organization in the OSCE area. The headquarters of the OSCE is located in Vienna (Austria).

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources