24 items approved for Istanbul Agenda

ISTANBUL, 29 June 2013 – The Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly has approved 24 items for debate during the Annual Session ranging from the humanitarian crisis in Syria to freedom of religion in the OSCE region to climate change to intercountry adoption.

In this morning's debate four items were rejected after the committee's consideration. The agenda for the session is now set as follows:

•  Plenary: five supplementary items
• Political Affairs and Security Committee: seven supplementary items
• Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment Committee: seven supplementary items
• Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions: five supplementary items

Items related to the situation in Kazakhstan, Kurds in Turkey, human rights in Russia, the Yogyakarta Principles on human rights and sexual orientation all failed to receive the 2/3 majority needed to be included on the main agenda for the Annual Session.

The following list details committee assignments for the supplementary items (full text of supplementary items available here):

Plenary:

2. ENHANCING TRUST, TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY WITHIN THE OSCE INSTITUTIONS
(Mr. De Donnea, Belgium)

6. TRAFFICKING VICTIM WATCHFULNESS: PLANES, TRAINS, BUSES, AND HOTELS (Mr. Smith, USA)

7. THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SYRIA (Mr. Onen, Turkey)

8. INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTIONS (Mr. Wicker, USA)

9. FREEDOM OF THE MEDIA (Ms. Arena, Belgium)

First General Committee on Political Affairs and Security:

4. THE ROLE OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES IN POST-CONFLICT REHABILITATION
SCENARIOS (Mr. Sanchez-Amor, Spain)

12. ENLARGING THE PARTNERSHIP WITH NON-MEMBER MEDITERRANEAN STATES TO INCLUDE
THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL AUTHORITY (Ms. Arena, Belgium)

13. THE TRANSDNIESTRIAN SETTLEMENT PROCESS (Mr. Zarubinskyi, Ukraine)

14. CYBER SECURITY (Ms. Pakosta, Estonia)

15. THE ARCTIC (Mr. Harstedt, Sweden)

19. GUANTANAMO (Lord Dubs, United Kingdom)

22. THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND ITS EFFECT ON THE OSCE AREA
(Ms. Pozuelo, Spain)

Second General Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment:

5. PROMOTING ENERGY SAVING AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN THE OSCE REGION
(Mr. Zarubinskyi, Ukraine)

11. ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSION OF ENERGY SECURITY (Mr. Acikgoz, Turkey)

16. WATER MANAGEMENT AS A PRIORITY FOR THE OSCE CIO IN 2014
(Ms. Berckmoes-Duindam, Netherlands)

18. STRENGTHENING SECURITY IN THE BORDER AREAS OF THE OSCE REGION
(Ms. Aknazarova, Kyrgyzstan)

23. GENDER ASPECTS OF LABOUR MIGRATION
(Ms. Bychkova, Kazakhstan)

24. ENSURING THAT CHILDREN HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE PROTECTED FROM ECONOMIC
EXPLOITATION (Ms. Bychkova, Kazakhstan)

29. CO-OPERATION ON THE TRANSITION TO A GREEN ECONOMY IN THE CONTEXT OF
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (Mr. Guminsky, Belarus)

Third General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions:

1. STRENGTHENING CIVIL SOCIETY INSTITUTIONS IN THE OSCE REGION
(Mr. Guliyev, Azerbaijan)

3. STRENGTHENING THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN COMBATING RACISM, XENOPHOBIA AND
OTHER FORMS OF INTOLERANCE AND DISCRIMINATION (Mr. Bostanci, Turkey)

10. PROMOTING FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF IN THE OSCE REGION (Mr. Allison, Canada)

17. CITIZENSHIP ISSUES (Mr. Kovalev, Russian Federation)

20. BELARUS (Mr. Holm, Sweden)

This is a press release issued by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The views expressed in this press release do not necessarily reflect those of the OSCE Chairmanship, nor of all OSCE participating States.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is comprised of 323 parliamentarians from 57 countries spanning, Europe, Central Asia and North America. The Assembly provides a forum for parliamentary diplomacy, monitors elections, and strengthens international cooperation to uphold commitments on political, security, economic, environmental and human rights issues.