II. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

In 2001 the work of the OSCE under Romanian Chairmanship was largely determined by its operational tasks. More than 80 per cent of its financial and personnel resources were committed to its 20 field missions for conflict prevention, civilian crisis management and dealing with post-crisis situations in South-Eastern Europe and on the territory of the former Soviet Union. These missions have developed a wide spectrum of activities, from supervising borders to training multi -ethnic police forces. The ninth meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Bucharest on 3/4 December adopted a declaration and an Action Plan for Combating Terrorism, the central theme of the year. A discussion process was launched by the Romanian Chairmanship on the strengthening of the OSCE, mainly a result of reservations expressed by some participating States regarding the Organisation's increasing operational role, the strong focus on the human dimension as well as the geographical concentration of its activities. The improvement in Russian-US relations as a result of the formation of the global anti-terror coalition had also a positive bearing on the working atmosphere within the OSCE. Austria, together with Portugal, the incoming Chairmanship, and Romania, was a member of the OSCE Troika, which accompanied the Chairman-in-Office on a number of visits to regions where the Organisation is active.

Field Activities

The major event in South-Eastern Europe in 2001 was the uprising at the end of February by armed ethnic Albanian groups in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which led to a temporary loss of government control in areas in the West and North-West of the country. Massive international pressure resulted in the signing of a Framework Agreement on 13 August. This document contains an invitation to the OSCE to take the lead in drawing up confidence-building measures, including training a multi-ethnic police force, supporting the media, especially Albanian-language media, and carrying out projects to promote inter-ethnic understanding. As a reac tion, the OSCE increased the size of its Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje from 8 to over 200 members. The Mission was tasked to supervise the return of state police to the rebel-held areas, in order to prevent attacks on the civilian population. The new South-Eastern Europe University opened in the autumn of 2001 in the town of Tetovo, which has a predominantly Albanian population. The result of an initiative by the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities, it will offer tuition in Albanian, Macedonian and English language, which was one of the main objectives of the armed ethnic Albanian groups.

After the fall of the Miloševic regime in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the new political leadership under President Koštunica was interested in establishing an OSCE presence in the country. Accordingly, a Mission was opened in Belgrade in March 2001, which soon won the confidence of the government and public opinion. The greatest challenge was presented by the armed uprising in Southern Serbia by ethnic Albanians demanding the transfer to Kosovo of Serbian districts with majority Albanian populations. This "Liberation Army" was able to operate with impunity for months in the 5 km broad demilitarised Ground Safety Zone that was set up in 1999 between Kosovo and Serbia proper. In order to put an end to this, NATO and the Yugoslav government agreed to hand over the zone between March and the end of May to the security forces of the FRY, and the OSCE was invited to help establish confidence-building measures between the population and the state authorities. These included the training of a multi-ethnic police force at a new training school in Bujanovac. In Montenegro, the parliamentary election brought a relatively poor result for the government coalition, which signified a setback for the advocates of independence. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights presented a number of analyses of the work of the Montenegrin parliament on drafting a law on an independence referendum.

The most important event in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo was the OSCE-organised election of a provincial assembly on 17 November. After strenuous international efforts to induce the Serbian minority to participate, the Kosovo Serbian coalition became the thirdstrongest party in the new legislature. The Kosovo Democratic League under Ibrahim Rugova unexpectedly failed to gain an absolute majority. By the end of the year there was still no government, which meant that the election of the President of Kosovo also had to be delayed. However, with its highly efficient organisation of the election, and its endeavours to win over the Yugoslav authorities in Belgrade as well as the Kosovo Serbs, the OSCE succeeded in taking another step towards fulfilling Security Council Resolution 1244 on the development of democratic self-governing structures in the province.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina the new electoral act was passed by both Houses of Parliament at the end of August, after intensive preparation with the decisive assistance of the OSCE. The adoption of this law was one of the essential preconditions for the country's membership of the Council of Europe. In the OSCE's view, Bosnia and Herzegovina thereby acquired the necessary legal framework for carrying out its own elections.

Local elections were held in Croatia on 20 May under OSCE supervision. The conduct of the elections was a considerable improvement by comparison with the parliamentary and presidential elections of 2000. This assessment by the OSCE is of importance from the point of view of the Serbian minority, since many decisions affecting daily life are taken by the local authorities, and thus have a direct influence on the return of minorities.

The parliamentary election held in Albania on 24 June was under observation by the OSCE, which reported that these were the best elections ever held in the country. The OSCE presence, and its repeated observation of the conduct of Albanian elections, undoubtedly contributed to this development.

The OSCE Assistance Group for Chechnya returned to the region in 2001 after an absence of two years and lengthy preparations for its return. It is based in the town of Znamenskoje in the north-west of Chechnya, where experts from the Council of Europe have also been active in the office of the Russian representative on human rights for Chechnya. The OSCE group was engaged in carrying out rehabilitation projects for the local population and for refugees.

The OSCE missions in Estonia and Latvia were terminated on 31 December, at the end of their current mandates. The guidelines for this process, drawn up in 2000 under the Austrian Chairmanship, had specified a number of reforms to be carried out, including reform of the electoral and minority legislation in favour of the Russian minorities. It was accepted that Estonia had largely adhered to the guidelines, but reform of the electoral legislation was still to be realized in Latvia. However, President Vike-Freiberga indicated Latvia's intention to introduce the necessary reforms in January 2002 and to recognise a forthcoming verdict on the issue by the European Court of Human Rights. The Latvian delegation to the OSCE also declared its continued readiness to cooperate closely with the OSCE, and in particular with the High Commissioner for National Minorities. In view of this, the Romanian Chairmanship considered the guidelines for the two Baltic missions to have been fulfilled.

The OSCE also carries out field activities through missions in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Moldova, as well as a project group in Ukraine. The so-called Minsk Group under the co-Chairmanship of France, Russia and the United States is engaged in trying to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Human Dimension of the OSCE

The Human Dimension has increasingly become a controversial issue within the OSCE. For some participants, including the EU members, it is the flagship of the organisation which lays the foundations of democratic states and thus assures stability and security. Others view it as overvalued, and want to reduce it to the same level as the economicecological and political-military dimensions. The monitoring functions of the OSCE missions arouse resistance, while the cooperative aspects are accepted. The Ministerial Council in Bucharest therefore issued only a drastically reduced statement on the Human Dimension.

The High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) in The Hague and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw were both involved in important political developments in Macedonia and Belarus. The Representative on Freedom of the Media played an increasingly prominent role. The ODIHR monitored elections in Azerbaijan, Moldova, FRY/Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus and Croatia. The campaign against trafficking in human beings that played a prominent role during the Austrian presidency continued in 2001. The Austrian Helga Konrad was appointed Regional Coordinator on Trafficking Issues and Chairperson of the Stability Pact Task Force on Trafficking in Human Beings. The problem of children and armed conflicts, another main theme of the Austrian presidency, was given wide support but, despite a specific recommendation by the UN Security Council to the regional organisations, was not taken up due to the resistance of several delegations who wanted consideration of this theme restricted to the United Nations.

The three Supplementary Meetings on the Human Dimension, which have become a regular aspect of the OSCE work, dealt inter alia with the themes of freedom of opinion, tolerance and non-discrimination, and the defence of human rights, especially in conflict situations. A meeting on violence against women was held in Vienna in June. The annual Human Dimension Seminar in Warsaw at the end of May was held on the topic of election procedures. A joint ODIHR/EU conference on Roma and Sinti took place in Bucharest in September. The annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, held in Warsaw from 17 to 27 September, dealt with the rule of law, democratic institutions, tolerance and non-discrimination, refugees, and respect for basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. The more efficient use and organisation of this conference was also a subject for discussion in 2001. The Romanian Chairmanship introduced the theme of the spiritual dimension and organised relevant events.

The Economic and Ecological Dimension of the OSCE

The ninth OSCE Economic Forum was held in Prague on 15-18 May 2001 on the theme of Transparency and Good Governance in Economic Matters. It was marked by a large attendance of nongovernmental organisations. The increased involvement of the field missions that was inaugurated under the Austrian Chairmanship also had a positive effect on the discussions. The tenth Economic Forum will be on the theme of the sustainable use and protection of water resources. To this end a preparatory seminar was held in Belgrade on 5 November which also considered the security implications of water use. The Ministerial Council in Bucharest decided on the establishment of an Economic and Environmental Sub-Committee which should ensure a continuous dialogue on these issues and has to be seen in the context of the discussion on strengthening the economic and ecological dimension of the OSCE.

Political and Military Issues

The OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC) meets weekly in Vienna. In addition to reviewing the implementation of the 1999 Vienna Document on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures, and the first exchange of information between the participating States under the Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons, which was adopted in 2000, the main issues dealt with were the strengthening of the politico-military dimension of the OSCE and the new challenges to security, especially from terrorism. The FSC will contribute to the OSCE action plan against terrorism, primarily through the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security and the OSCE Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons. The first seminar since 1998 on Military Doctrines and Defence Policies in the OSCE was held on 11 -13 June. 20 states including Austria made national presentations.

The negotiations on Article V of the 1995 Dayton/Paris Peace Accords on Bosnia and Herzegovina aimed at establishing a regional balance in and around the former Yugoslavia were concluded in July. Among the twenty states which participated in the negotiations were all the neighbouring countries of the former Yugoslavia, including Austria. The primary aim of integrating the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia into a regional confidence and security regime was superfluous after it became a participating State of the OSCE. The process therefore ended without a formal agreement, but with a final document containing a number of voluntary measures on military contacts and activities, inspections, anti-personnel mines and small arms and light weapons.

The Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe, as adapted in 1999 at the OSCE Summit in Istanbul, is not yet in force, because by the end of 2001 only two states had ratified it. It is open to accession by those OSCE participating States which are not yet parties to the treaty. Austria has an interest in acceding to this treaty, which is a cornerstone of European security, as soon as it enters into force. The ratification by the Western countries was delayed primarily by Russia's failure to observe the agreed ceilings in the Caucasus (Chechnya). However there has been progress, also with regard to the withdrawal of Russian forces from Moldova, which should speed up the ratification process. The 1992 Open Skies Treaty entered into force on 1 January 2002 after ratification by Russia and Belarus.

Combating Terrorism

The OSCE Plan of Action for Combating Terrorism, adopted at the ministerial meeting in Bucharest, commits the participating States to sign all twelve UN conventions against terrorism. The ODIHR, in cooperation with the Vienna-based UN office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNDCCP) will provide assistance to the states concerned for the adaptation of their national legislation. The participating States acknowledge the necessity of enhanced cooperation to restrict the financing of terrorist activities and the freedom of movement of terrorist groups, as well as other relevant activities on their territories.

Institutional Issues

The Romanian Chairmanship made the strengthening and reform of the OSCE one of the priorities of its programme. This was a reaction to long-standing criticisms by some participating States, especially as regards the strong focus of the Organization on the human dimension. They are in favour of upgrading the economic and politico-military dimension as well as structural changes. The latter would tie the Chairman-in-Office more closely to the consensus of the participating States, and reduce the autonomy of the various missions and institutions. On the other hand, the US, EU and other participating States view the OSCE as an operational instrument for civilian crisis management, which in its turn demands a degree of freedom of action for the Chairman-in-Office. The reform document adopted by the Ministerial Council in Bucharest contains the already mentioned measures to strengthen the politico-military and economic dimension.

The OSCE suffers from legal and financial disadvantages arising out of the fact that it has no definite status under international law. It was not least as the Organisation's host country that Austria amongst others advocated the signing of an international convention to grant the OSCE a legal personality similar to that of other international organisations. The working group set up in 2000 under the Austrian Chairmanship continued its work in 2001 under Austrian chairmanship, and made considerable progress in negotiating a draft convention. An agreement on the text will depend on the decisive question, which must be answered at political level, of whether the OSCE is to become an organisation with a legal personality. Although the overwhelming majority of the participating States desire this, no consensus on the matter could be obtained to date.