OSCE foreign ministers' meeting begins with focus on terrorism and human trafficking

MAASTRICHT, 1 December 2003 - Foreign ministers from the 55 OSCE participating States gathered in Maastricht on Monday for their annual Ministerial Council, which will focus on threats to security and stability in the 21st century.

Opening the two-day gathering, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Netherlands Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said the threats facing the world required collective responses and no single state could deal with them alone.

"We are faced with a complex international agenda - an agenda that combines hard threats, such as terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts, and trafficking in human beings, with soft threats, such as poverty, discrimination and environmental degradation," the CiO said.

"I believe that in several of these areas the OSCE can make a difference," he added.

"Our citizens have to be shown why the OSCE matters in the fight against terrorism. They have to be shown how the OSCE helps to protect women and children from being taken abroad and forced into prostitution or other forms of slave labour."

But Minister de Hoop Scheffer said it was important for participating States to muster the political will to enable the OSCE to offer real added value in focussing on threats and challenges where it could make a difference.

"We have to prove our relevance," he said.

"This Ministerial Council is faced with some tough questions. For the credibility of the OSCE it is crucial that we tackle these questions and that we do so effectively and together. We are expected to address serious developments and issues. A failure to do so would backfire on us all and weaken the OSCE."

The CiO urged ministers to demonstrate their basic commitment to the OSCE and show a willingness to compromise.

The foreign ministers were expected to agree a strategy to address threats to security and stability in the 21st century, originally proposed by the Russian Federation and the United States.

"Adopting this document is an important first step in positioning the OSCE as a modern security organisation capable of responding to changes in the overall security situation," the Chairman-in-Office said.

He reminded participating States that the fight against terrorism should not be waged at the expense of basic freedoms.

"While we should be resolute in our response to threats and challenges, old and new, we must never forget that the overarching objective of our struggle is to defend our common values of human security and dignity," the CiO said.

"It would, in fact, be counterproductive and self-defeating if terrorism became an excuse for infringing on human rights."

Ministers were also expected to approve decisions on other subjects including stockpiles of conventional ammunition, shoulder-carried anti-aircraft weapons and the security of travel documents.

Noting that the OSCE was implementing internal reforms, Minister de Hoop Scheffer raised the question of whether it was necessary for all OSCE decisions to require consensus among the 55 participating States, as is the case at present.

"In my view, it does not make sense to apply it to purely administrative matters, for instance. Or to appointments to positions such as Head of Institution, where the need for consensus now causes inordinate delays."