Paris Declaration calls for more oversight and accountability in the 52-state OSCE (07/29/01)

Paris Declaration calls for more oversight and accountability in the 52-state OSCE

OSCE

PARIS - Nearly 300 parliamentarians from 52 OSCE countries on July 11 adopted the Paris Declaration, which includes a unanimously approved resolution on strengthening transparency and accountability in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The resolution includes the proposal that before making major decisions, to be defined in future consultations, the Ministerial Council should take into account the opinion of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and explain how it has affected the result. The assembly also recommended that as long as the OSCE complies with the strict consensus rule it must not be possible for it to participate in the decision-making process secretly and that objections to any proposal must be made known to any interested OSCE participating state or institution.

The resolution calls for the reports of external and internal auditors of the OSCE to be made available to the Parliamentary Assembly in a timely manner and calls upon the OSCE Permanent Council to open its meetings to the public. The OSCE PA has established an ad hoc committee to promote transparency and accountability in the OSCE and monitor its implementation. The assembly re-elected Romanian member of Parliament Adrian Severin as its president for a second one-year term. Rep. Alcee Hastings from the United States, Kimmo Kiljunen of Finland and Ahmet Tan of Turkey were elected as vice-presidents of the assembly for a three-year term.

The Paris Declaration, adopted by the Parliamentary assembly after four days of debate in three general committees and plenary sessions, deals with political, economic and human rights aspects of the central theme of OSCE PA's 10th annual session: "European Security and Conflict Prevention: Challenges to the OSCE in the 21st Century." In addition, the Paris Declaration contains resolutions on specific issues such as abolition of the death penalty; prevention of torture, abuse, extortion or other unlawful acts; combating trafficking in human beings; combating corruption and international crime; freedom of the media; as well as resolutions on Southeastern Europe, the North Caucasus, Moldova and Ukraine.

Regarding the situation in Ukraine the assembly expressed concern about the potential loss of momentum in undertaking critical economic and political reforms in Ukraine as a result of the dismissal of the reformist government of Viktor Yuschenko. The assembly noted its displeasure that the criminal investigation into the murder of journalist Heorhii Gongadze has been obstructed by authorities and has not been carried out in accordance with the rule of law.

On the implications of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) for the OSCE Region, the assembly proposed that consideration be given to the possibility of the European Union's ESDP being available to OSCE and the United Nations for crisis management, peacemaking and peacekeeping activities.

The Paris Declaration urges the OSCE to raise awareness by making delegations and capitals more sensitive to the interplay between environmental economic factors and the security of the OSCE region. The assembly also suggested that all OSCE meetings dealing with economic issues should include the gender perspective.

On national minorities the assembly strongly recommended to those participating states that have not yet done so that they bring their legislation on citizenship into conformity with international standards for the protection of persons belonging to national minorities, particularly in regard to the procedures for the acquisition or loss of citizenship.

The assembly called upon the participating states to reinvigorate their efforts to implement their commitments regarding freedom of expression and free media, and to actively support media independence and pluralism.

The resolution on Southeastern Europe opposes ethnic Albanian groups in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo and southern Serbia who have instigated violence this past year, condemns repeated acts of terrorism in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and calls upon the legitimate political representatives of Macedonians, Albanians and other ethnic groups in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, to focus on continued political dialogue rather than violence and to resolve pressing issues and grievances of ethnic minorities. The resolution also encourages full implementation of the Stability Pact, particularly progress on the Quick Start Infrastructure Project, to serve as a vehicle to promote economic development, democratization, security, respect for human rights and confidence-building in the region.

On developments in the North Caucasus the assembly once again called upon all parties in the conflict to assiduously and conscientiously observe the territorial integrity of all sovereign states in the region and to refrain from any actions that might contravene territorial integrity or undermine regional security. The resolution welcomes the return of the OSCE Assistance Group to Chechnya and expresses its expectation that the Assistance Group, on the basis of its 1995 mandate, will be able to promote the peaceful settlement of the crisis in the Chechen Republic.

The resolution on Moldova encourages the OSCE to continue its efforts to help bring about a peaceful solution to the crisis, including finding and providing guarantees for settlement and agreement of issues concerning the status of Transdniestria. The resolution welcomes the recent exchange of letters between Russian Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Isakov and the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Ambassador William Hill, relating to the procedure for withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Transdniester region and to its financing from the OSCE Voluntary Fund, together with the signing of the tripartite protocol through representatives of the OSCE, the Russian Federation and Transdniestria on joint work on the disposal of armaments whose service life has expired.

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