Secretary General Kubis informs OSCE Parliamentarians about recent activities

PARIS, 9 July 2001 (OSCE) - The range and scope of OSCE activities has grown dramatically over the past five years, stated Ambassador Jan Kubis, Secretary General of the Organization, in his address to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, beginning its Tenth Annual Session in Paris today.

He thanked the Parliamentarians for their active interest and contribution in promoting the OSCE. "I greatly value the input of Parliamentarians in the work of the Organization, and I wish to thank you for arguing in favour of strengthening the OSCE and for injecting new proposals how to improve and democratize our work", he said.

Summarizing the developments of OSCE's activities in the past 12 months, Mr. Kubis outlined the current review of the Organization by a team of independent external experts. "Although some of the experts' findings might be rather difficult for the Organization and its Secretariat, I expect this process to contribute to an Organization that is better able to fulfil its assigned roles in support of our participating States and field operations", he stated.

Mr. Kubis reiterated the need for the OSCE to be granted an international legal personality, as the absence of a document on the legal capacity and privileges and immunities of the Organization made the work of the OSCE more difficult. He announced that an open-ended working group meeting would take place in Vienna on 9 and 10 July with experts from capitals.

The Secretary General briefed the Parliamentarians about the current situation of the Operation Centre, which with the recent recruitment of a Police Adviser, is now fully operational and continues to provide significant additional planning and co-ordination capacity within the Conflict Prevention Centre.

He also reported that the OSCE's REACT (Rapid Expert Assistance Co-operation Teams) system has now been available for ten weeks to all participating States, field Missions and Secretariat staff, but he reminded that "the system will only be as good as the support and participation it receives from the OSCE participating States".

The Secretary General announced that the Secretariat would hold consultations with the Parliamentary Assembly as part of an overall discussion on the OSCE visibility, corporate image and public receptivity. As part of his external co-operation mandate, Mr. Kubis informed the Parliamentarians that the OSCE had been able to develop further relations with its partner organizations, such as the United Nations, the European Union, the Council of Europe, NATO, and others. The flow of information through the respective operational centres and crisis cells had improved.

The Secretary General also underscored the intensive co-operation and co-ordination in the field between the OSCE and its international partners, such as in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, where the OSCE Mission co-operates successful with other organizations on its multi-ethnic police training programme in southern Serbia. Another example was the co-operation of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo with the International Organization for Migration and others on the forthcoming election in November. The Parliamentary Troika - of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly - is invited to organize joint election observation for this election. "Our common success therefore greatly depends on closest possible co-ordination both in the field and at the headquarters level, based on inclusiveness and on-time information sharing", Mr. Kubis said.

Mr. Kubis also touched upon the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects, which will discuss an issue that is of growing concern for the OSCE region. The OSCE passed in November 2000 its own Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons, which brings together norms, principles and measures to regulate manufacture and trade; improve co-operation in law enforcement; secure and reduce weapons stockpiles and incorporate small arms measures into conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation. "The OSCE Document has already influenced the outcome of the conference immeasurably", Mr. Kubis stated.

Finally, the OSCE Secretary General welcomed the active participation of the Parliamentary Assembly in the OSCE economic and environmental activities. "Over the past years, we have learnt that a comprehensive approach to security requires a balanced interplay between the politico-military, the human and the economic and environmental dimensions. Revealing the attention paid by the Assembly to those issues, I welcome the Parliamentarians active participation in the three preparatory seminars as well as in the OSCE Economic Forum held in May this year", the Secretary General said.

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