Background
Since the OSCE began its operational work on the ground in the early 1990s, many field operations reached the expiration date of their mandates and were closed down, or were shut as a result of a decision by the Permanent Council. The Organization’s Conflict Prevention Centre is responsible not only for the establishment but also the restructuring or closure of OSCE field operations and other field activities.
Closed field operations and related field activities
(in chronological order of closure)
OSCE Missions of Long Duration in Kosovo, Sandjak and Vojvodina (closed)
Active from 8 September 1992 to July 1993
OSCE Mission to Georgia (closed)
Active from November 1992 to 31 December 2008
OSCE Mission to Estonia (closed)
Active from 15 February 1993 to 31 December 2001
OSCE Mission to Latvia (closed)
Active from 19 November 1993 to 31 December 2001
OSCE Mission to Ukraine (closed)
Active from 24 November 1994 to 30 April 1999
OSCE Representative to the Estonian Expert Commission on Military Pensioners (closed)
Active from 1994 to 2006
OSCE Liaison Office in Central Asia (closed)
Active from 16 March 1995 to December 2000 (assets and premises transferred to OSCE Centre in Tashkent)
OSCE Representative to the Joint Committee on the Skrunda Radar Station (disbanded)
Active from 6 April 1995 to 31 October 1999
OSCE Assistance Group to Chechnya (closed)
Active from 26 April 1995 to 31 December 2002
Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Article IV, Annex 1-B of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (discontinued)
Active from 1995 to 2015
OSCE Mission to Croatia / OSCE Office in Zagreb (closed)
Active from July 1996 to 17 January 2012 (Office in Zagreb from 1 January 2008)
OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus (closed)
Active from January 1998 to 31 December 2002
OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission / OSCE Task Force for Kosovo (closed)
Active from October 1998 to June 1999 (succeeded by OSCE Mission in Kosovo)
OSCE Office in Yerevan (closed)
Active from 16 February 2000 to 31 August 2017
OSCE Office in Baku / OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Baku (closed)
Active from 1999 to 31 December 2015 (Project Co-ordinator from 2014)
OSCE Office in Minsk (closed)
Active from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2010
OSCE Observer Mission at the Russian Checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk (discontinued)
Active from 24 July 2014 to 30 September 2021
OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (closed)
Active from 21 March 2014 to 31 March 2022
OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (closed)
Active from 1 June 1999 to 30 June 2022
OSCE Minsk Process and related structures (closed)
Active from 1992 to 30 November 2025
Mandate changes
The Permanent Council decided several times to change the mandate of a field operation:
- In 1995, the OSCE Mission in Sarajevo was transformed into the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
- In 2006, the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro, formerly the OSCE Mission to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was transformed into the OSCE Mission to Serbia
- In 2006, the OSCE Centre in Tashkent was transformed into the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan
- In 2010, the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje was transformed into the OSCE Mission to Skopje
- In 2014, the OSCE Office in Baku was transformed into the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Baku
- In 2015, the OSCE Centre in Astana, formerly the OSCE Centre in Almaty, was transformed into the OSCE Programme Office in Astana
- In 2017, the OSCE Centre in Bishkek was transformed into the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek
- In 2017, the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, formerly the OSCE Mission to Tajikistan and the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe, was transformed into the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe