OSCE Chairman urges US Helsinki Commission to help Organization weather current attacks

WASHINGTON D.C., 9 March 2005 - The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, urged members of the US Congress and the Helsinki Commission to ensure that America's commitment to the OSCE was made clear at the highest level.

Addressing the Commission in Washington on Tuesday, Minister Rupel said that the OSCE was under attack: "Some critics - even heads of State - are questioning its relevance, its way of implementing decisions, its approach to election monitoring, and accusing it of double standards."

As a result, the Organization was without a budget for 2005 in the third month of the year, it had failed to reach consensus on a common Declaration at its December Ministerial Meeting for the second year in succession, and one of its most successful conflict prevention activities, the monitoring operation along a section of the Georgian-Russian Federation border, had closed for want of an extended agreement.

"Is the OSCE in crisis?" he asked rhetorically. "The situation is not ideal. But perhaps this is an opportunity to get some things out in the open that have been festering for a while."

Not everyone would agree with the criticism levelled by the Russian Federation and some members of the Commonwealth of Independent States that the OSCE practised double standards, he said.

"But their views should not be ignored or dismissed we have to address the perception that countries West of Vienna are 'teachers' with a licence to lecture the 'pupils' East of Vienna. That is not to say that we should lower our standards or erode our common principles, but we have to maintain a co-operative spirit."

In response to their views, the OSCE Chairmanship had appointed a Panel of Eminent Persons to review the effectiveness of the Organization and provide strategic vision for the OSCE in the future. Their recommendations were due to come out at the end of June.

But the US Helsinki Commission needed to continue its support, raising awareness of the OSCE in the United States: "Your work is more vital today, perhaps, than ever I spoke with Secretary of State Rice yesterday and said how useful it was for her and the President to lay out so clearly during their recent visits to Europe the importance of EU-US relations and the vision that the United States has for NATO. The same needs to be done for the OSCE.

"The future of this Organization and what it stands for should not be taken for granted," he warned. "We must avoid the re-opening of divisions in Europe and any backsliding of the progress made in recent years. The OSCE is absolutely instrumental in that process."

Minister Rupel was speaking to the Helsinki Commission on the fifth day of a visit to the United States, during which he also addressed the United Nations Security Council and discussed co-operation with the UN Secretary-General, as well as holding meetings with the Secretary of State and other key officials in Washington. He also addressed the National Press Club.