Helsinki Final Act signed twenty years ago today

VIENNA, 1 August 1995 - Today marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Final Act. On 1 August 1975, 35 Heads of State or Government from Europe, the United States, and Canada met in the Finnish capital to sign a document that would set standards and norms still of fundamental relevance today. The basic principles embodied in the Final Act are widely considered to have strongly influenced the end of East-West confrontation and provided impetus for democratic change that led to the end of the Cold War.

The anniversary will be marked today in Helsinki at a symposuim hosted by the Finnish Government. Key figures in CSCE/OSCE history will gather in the Finnish capital to reflect on the important contributions of the CSCE process and on the present and future role of the OSCE. Speakers will include Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn, Former President of the United States Gerald Ford, Foreign Minister of Hungary and OSCE Chairman-in-Office László Kovács, Former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, Russian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov and Karel Schwarzenberg, Personal Representative of Czech President Vaclav Havel. The OSCE Secretary General, Dr. Wilhelm Höynck, will also attend.

The origins of the Helsinki Final Act can be traced to the early 1950s and proposals by the Soviet Union and other East European States to create an all-European security conference. Finland offered Helsinki as a venue for the conference in 1969, inviting all European countries, the United States and Canada to participate. In 1972, the 35 States agreed to enter into multilateral consultations on the preparations for the conference, and the stage was set for the preparatory talks in Helsinki. In 1973, the consultations concluded with the drafting of a "Blue Book", which outlined final recommendations on the scope and rules of procedure of the Conference. Intensive consultations followed in Geneva from 1973 - 1975.

On 1 August 1975, the Heads or Government of the 35 participating States, meeting in Helsinki, signed the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Accords. The Act established basic principles - "the Helsinki Decalogue" - governing behaviour among the participating States and of Governments toward their citizens. The document is not a treaty, but a politically binding agreement. It laid the basis for further development of the CSCE process and provided an agreed set of standards for countries of a vast and diverse region. The Final Act went beyond traditional military guarantees of stability by incorporating economic development, concerns for the environment, cultural affairs and human rights into a comprehensive concept of security. In doing so, it established the principle that human rights and fundamental freedoms are a central and legitimate concern of international relations and an important element of European security.

The Ten Principles of the Helsinki Final Act:

Sovereign equality, respect for the rights inherent in sovereignty;Refraining from the threat or use of force;Inviolability of frontiers;Territorial integrity of States;Peaceful settlement of disputes;Non-intervention in internal affairs;Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief;Equal rights and self-determination of peoples;Co-operation among States;Fulfillment in good faith of obligations under international law

The Helsinki Final Act launched a process of constant review of its implementation and of the enhancement of its norms and standards. The CSCE came to be known as the Helsinki process. From 1975 to 1990, it functioned as an open-ended conference with periodic formal meetings. The Paris Summit Meeting in 1990 marked the beginning of its institutionalization, reflecting the changes in Europe and the new challenges of the post-Cold War period.

The developments in the security situation in Europe in the 1990s have led to a fundamental change in the CSCE and to a dramatic strengthening of its role. The 1994 Budapest Summit, recognizing that the CSCE was no longer simply a conference, changed its name to Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and established the OSCE as a primary instrument for early warning, conflict prevention and crisis management. Today, the OSCE comprises 53 participating States from a region stretching from Vladivostok to Vancouver, including the United States, Canada and all the countries of Europe and republics of the former Soviet Union. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has observer status, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) has been suspended.