2015 OSCE Medal awarded to Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini and former OSCE Senior Operational Adviser John Crosby

VIENNA, 17 December 2015 – Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini and former OSCE Senior Operational Adviser John Crosby were today awarded the OSCE Medal by the Organization’s Secretary General, Lamberto Zannier, for their “dedication and tireless efforts that embody the OSCE’s lasting contribution to international security and co-operation.”

Addressing the weekly meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, Secretary General Zannier said: “This award ceremony – which has become a nearly twenty-year-old OSCE tradition – is a powerful reminder of what ultimately makes the OSCE a force for peace and stability in Europe and beyond – its people.”

He noted Ambassador Tagliavini’s commitment to her former role as the Chairperson-in-Office’s Special Representative in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group. Her experience with the OSCE dates back to 1995 during which she headed a number of election observation missions of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), served as a Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairmanship for the Caucasus and was deployed with the first OSCE Assistance Group to Chechnya.

“Her exceptional leadership, determination and competence were fundamental to the establishment of the Trilateral Contact Group and its Working Groups,” said the Secretary General. “She played a central role in laying the foundations for the discussions that are presently continuing on key political, security, humanitarian and economic issues that should facilitate the resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.”

The OSCE Secretary General similarly highlighted John Crosby’s critical operational contribution to the OSCE’s response to the crisis in and around Ukraine, including his leadership role in establishing and consolidating the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine.

He also recalled Crosby’s work with the OSCE in Georgia in August 2008 shortly after the end of the conflict, and in southern Kyrgyzstan following the June 2010 events.

“These examples underscore what an outstanding professional John is and highlight the great work he has done for the OSCE. They also capture the responsiveness and capacity of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre as a whole in providing participating States with a highly effective and flexible instrument for dealing with all phases of the conflict cycle throughout the OSCE region,” said Secretary General Zannier.

The OSCE Medal was first awarded in 1997 to Former Federal Chancellor of Austria Franz Vranitzky. Previous recipients have included former OSCE Secretary Generals Jan Kubiš (1998) and Marc Perrin de Brichambault (2011), former OSCE High Commissioners on National Minorities Max van der Stoel (1999) and Knut Vollebaek (2014), the former President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Bruce Thomas George (2012), while three former foreign ministers received Medals in 2013: Dora Bakoyannis of Greece, Igor Ivanov of the Russian Federation, and Adam Rotfeld of Poland.