OSCE agrees Charter on Preventing Terrorism

PORTO, 7 December 2002 - The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe ended its 10th Ministerial Council on Saturday by adopting an OSCE Charter on Preventing and Combating Terrorism and agreeing guidelines to meet new challenges to security in the 21st century.

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office (CiO), Portuguese Foreign Minister Antonio Martins da Cruz, said the two-day meeting in Porto had been fruitful and productive. The Organization had again demonstrated its capacity to respond to changes in the evolving European security architecture.

"Important decisions have been adopted and the commitment of the OSCE to furthering peace and stability has been strongly reaffirmed," the CiO said. "The results testify to the vitality and continued relevance of the OSCE and its ability to adapt swiftly and efficiently to shifting circumstances."

He noted that the 55-nation OSCE was the only regional security organization which is "simultaneously pan-European, trans-Atlantic and EurAsian."

"In a united Europe there are no dividing lines," Minister Martins da Cruz added. "We must preserve the OSCE as our common house for continued dialogue and co-operation."

The participating States adopted a Porto Ministerial Declaration entitled 'Responding to Change,' in which they committed themselves "to work together to protect our peoples from existing and emerging threats to security."

"Terrorism, as recent atrocities in Moscow, Bali and Mombasa demonstrate, remains a threat to individual and global security," the CiO said.

"No organization or state can meet this challenge on its own - we need to reinforce our regional and global co-operation in support of the United Nations' anti-terrorism strategy."

"With the adoption of the OSCE Charter on Preventing and Combating Terrorism, the OSCE and its participating States have reiterated the core timeless principles that guide the Organization's actions in the universal fight against terrorism," he said.

During its Chairmanship, Portugal sought to ensure that the OSCE continued to adapt to meet the new challenges. This adaptation involves institutional reforms. But it requires, above all, the availability of participating States to enable the OSCE to continue taking on the tasks entrusted to it by the International Community. It is with this aim that the Porto Ministerial Council has laid down clear guidelines for an OSCE Strategy to Address Threats to Security and Stability in the 21st Century.

Ministers also adopted measures to ensure that the OSCE concept of comprehensive security - embracing the politico-military, economic and environmental and human dimensions of security - is not an empty one. They agreed to hold an Annual Security Review Conference, starting in 2003, and to continue reinforcing the economic and environmental dimension.

The continued importance of the human dimension was underlined in the adoption of a Declaration on Trafficking in Human Beings.

"This Declaration is particularly timely as this appalling form of modern slavery affects all OSCE participating States, whether as countries of origin for its unfortunate victims, transit countries or countries of destination," Minister Martins da Cruz said.

Ministers also discussed a broad range of sub-regional issues. The Chairmanship received a letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus with a proposal for the mandate of the new OSCE presence in Minsk. Consultations will continue in Vienna next week in order that a new OSCE presence in Belarus could start next January.

The CiO paid tribute to the dedicated work of the OSCE's more than 3,000 field staff, including all Heads of Mission, and staff of the Secretariat.