Ukraine’s OSCE Chairmanship: no major achievements

The OSCE Parallel Civil Society Conference was held in Kyiv

During Ukraine’s chairmanship in 2013 the OSCE maintained a balance between the organization’s three areas of activity (security, economic development, and human rights), Paul Dunay, advisor at the Geneva Center for Security Policy, said during the OSCE Parallel Civil Society Conference held in Kyiv on December 2-5. The event was organized by the Odesa Center of the National Institute for Strategic Studies, Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, and the Promotion of Intercultural Cooperation NGO with support of the International Renaissance Foundation’s European Program and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine.

Speaking about Ukraine’s chairmanship of the OSCE, Oleksandr Sushko, research director of the Institute of Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, said that the absence of failure was already a success for Ukraine. Although the chairmanship didn’t end with a striking chord, he said Ukraine should get credit for its work in regulating the conflict in Transnistria and the initiative to hold a major event in April 2013 on freedom of movement in the OSCE area, where visa issues and free entry/exit were first discussed.

Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the OSCE, identified his country’s priorities as it takes over chairmanship of the OSCE: human rights, cyber security, and regulating conflicts in the Caucasus. The country is placing great hope on the Helsinki +40 Process aimed at ensuring greater security for the 57 OSCE participating states, which have different political regimes and geopolitical preferences.

According to the experts, frozen conflicts such as Nagorno-Karabakh remain on the OSCE agenda. The expected withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2014 could become a major security threat to the OSCE region if the organization doesn’t take control of the withdrawal process and further regulation. Moreover, international disarmament remains an issue and requires careful control by OSCE member states.

Contacts:
Odesa Center of the National Institute for Strategic Studies
Hanna Shelest
osce_ua_2013@ukr.net

***

The essential role of the European Program lies in promotion of Ukraine’s European integration, combining external pressure of the EU with the domestic one of the Ukrainian civil society, and thus contributing to promotion of open society values in Ukraine.

Spelling error report

The following text will be sent to our editors: