General information
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) grew out of the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which concluded with the Helsinki Final Act in 1975. The headquarters of the OSCE are in Vienna. The 56 Participating States of the OSCE include all States in Europe, the successor States of the Soviet Union, the United States and Canada. The OSCE is a regional organization within the meaning of Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations. The organization is dedicated to early warning, conflict prevention, and conflict resolution. The following organs and institutions have been created to implement these responsibilities:
The OSCE organs include the Summit of Heads of State and Government (most recent meeting in 1999), the Ministerial Council (meets once a year), the Permanent Council (meets once a week), and the Forum for Security Cooperation (meets once a week).
The country chairing the OSCE, the Chairman-in-Office, is appointed by the Ministerial Council for one year. The current Chairman-in-Office and its immediate predecessor and successor form the so-called OSCE Troika. The institutions of the OSCE include:
The largest share of the OSCE budget is allocated to a range of missions and other field activities. The first long-term mission was sent to Kosovo, Sandjak and Vojvodina in 1992. It was the first step toward a successful operationalization of the OSCE. Through practical cooperation, the OSCE aims to support countries in post-conflict reconstruction, democratic transformation processes, and conflict prevention. Over 1000 international staff members are deployed in these OSCE missions in South-Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Belarus.
For the support, implementation, and coordination of this broad spectrum of responsibilities, a Secretariat was established in Vienna when the CSCE was transformed into the OSCE. The OSCE Secretary General supervises this Secretariat and supports the OSCE Chairman-in-Office.
At the end of 1997, the post of Coordinator of Economic and Environmental Activities was created, which is also part of the OSCE Secretariat. In order to better respond to the demands of new security challenges, the Secretariat has been expanded to include a Police Development Unit and an Action against Terrorism Unit .
The OSCE security concept
The comprehensive security concept of the OSCE incorporates a three-dimensional approach, taking into account the Politico-Military Dimension, the Economic and Environmental Dimension, and the Human Dimension. The organization is active in preventative diplomacy, conflict prevention, and conflict resolution.
Politico-Military Dimension
The OSCE is an important forum for conventional arms control and military transparency in Europe. The Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC), with its weekly meetings and annual implementation conferences, is the organ responsible for monitoring compliance with the detailed OSCE instruments on arms control and confidence- and security-building measures (CSBMs) and for their further conceptual development. It discusses, negotiates, and adopts politically binding documents to strengthen security and stability in the entire OSCE area. The OSCE also assists enforcement of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) and the Open Skies Treaty.
Key documents discussed and further developed by the FSC include the 1999 Vienna Document on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures (VSBM), the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security, and the Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons. The implementation of the arms control provisions of the Dayton Peace Agreement of 1995 (Annex 1 B, Regional Stabilization) is also under the umbrella of the OSCE.
Economic and Environmental Dimension
Economic and social aspects of political conflicts are an important component of the concept of security and cooperation with the OSCE. For the purpose of monitoring commitments entered into, the Economic Forum was established, which meets once a year in Prague. A series of seminars is organized in preparation for the Economic Forum. The post of Coordinator of Economic and Environmental Affairs was created to give greater emphasis to the economic aspects of security. The main objective is to give political impulses to economic transformation processes and environmental protection. The key OSCE document in this regard is the Document of the Bonn Conference on Economic Cooperation in Europe , in which the Participating States of the OSCE pledge their commitment to the basic principles of market economics.
Human Dimension
The Human Dimension of the OSCE encompasses a number of commitments. These commitments not only serve to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, but also the rule of law and the establishment of democratic institutions.
The protection of human rights in the OSCE is based on the 1975 Helsinki Final Act of the CSCE (Basket I, Principle VII, and Basket III, Cooperation in Humanitarian and Other Fields). After 1989, the Human Dimension of the OSCE has become an indispensable element of the protection of human rights and minorities in Europe, especially through the Charter of Paris and the 1990 Copenhagen Document .
The catalogue of commitments relating to the Human Dimension was expanded in the 1990’s and now includes topics such as racism, xenophobia, discrimination, anti-Semitism, the role of the media in democratic societies, and gender equality.
The Human Dimension is also part of the scope of responsibilities of every OSCE field mission.
The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw is responsible for observing elections, strengthening democratic institutions, human rights, and the rule of law, and for implementing commitments relating to the Human Dimension.
Compliance with the commitments entered into is reviewed at the annual Implementation Meeting in Warsaw. Numerous seminars and conferences are organized in preparation for these annual Human Dimension Implementation Meetings.
Basic documents
The most important OSCE documents are the Helsinki Final Act (1975) , the Charter of Paris (1990) (PDF, 69.56 KB)  and the Istanbul Charter on European Security (1999) . These key documents were adopted on the occasion of summits of head of State and government. In the area of confidence- and security-building measures of the Politico-Military Dimension, the 1990 Vienna Document is considered the key document.
Liechtenstein in the OSCE
Liechtenstein signed the Helsinki Final Act in 1975. Since then, Liechtenstein has participated actively in all areas of the OSCE and has assumed a number of chairmanships. As a Participating State, Liechtenstein contributes to the budget of the OSCE organs and institutions and thereby to the activities serving peace and security in Europe. Liechtenstein also makes voluntary contributions to a range of projects in the Economic and Human Dimensions of the OSCE.
In this way, it has recently supported a project to prevent violence against women in the Caucasus, the project on “Women’s leadership, lobbying and network building” in Kyrgyzstan, and various workshops and conferences on money laundering and terrorist financing, among others.
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