OSCE Area Research Articles

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities: A Changemaker on the Ground

Established in 1992, the High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Co-operation and Security in Europe has made significant contributions to conflict prevention and management in multi-ethnic societies. In this article, I trace how, over the three decades of its existence, the institution has adopted the notion of “integration with respect for diversity” as the guiding principle of its work. I demonstrate that successive High Commissioners have relied on three main tools in their efforts – mediation and facilitation, advising on legislation and policy making, and capacity building – and illustrate this approach with examples from across the OSCE area before providing two detailed case studies of how the institution has supported Kyrgyzstan and Moldova in the development of their respective national integration strategies. I conclude that the sustainability of positive change that follows from the engagement of the High Commissioner depends significantly on the institution’s ability to build local capacity to manage the process of integration with respect for diversity in the long term and with a wide range of national and international governmental and non-governmental stakeholders.

Fostering Security in Albania and the Eu’s Role in the Security Sector Reform

In today’s world of complex and interdependent security challenges within and across borders, national security sectors need to adapt to fast-changing and unpredictable environments. Experience shows that an accountable, effective and inclusive security sector with full respect for human rights, including gender equality and the rule of law can effectively provide security to a State and its people, while at the same time promoting stability, trust and confidence in the OSCE area and beyond . It is important to first define what we mean by the security sector and security sector reform. The security sector is taken to mean all those organisations which have authority to use, or order the use of force, or threat of force, to protect the state and its citizens, as well as those civil structures that are responsible for their management and oversight. The security sector can therefore be viewed as forming three pillars: a) Groups with a mandate to wield the instruments of violence – military, paramilitaries and police forces; b) Institutions with a role in managing and monitoring the security sector – civilian ministries, parliaments and NGOs; and c) Bodies responsible for guaranteeing the rule of law – the judiciary, the penal system, human rights ombudsmen and, where these bodies are particularly weak, the international community . The overall aim of ‘Security Sector Reform’ is the transformation of security institutions so that they play an effective, legitimate and democratically accountable role in providing external and internal security for their citizens. Transformation of the security sector requires broad consultation and includes goals such as strengthening civilian control and oversight of the security sector; professionalisation of the security forces; demilitarisation and peace-building; and strengthening the rule of law . Security sector reform addresses security problems and tries to improve the situation through institutional reforms. Security and peace are seen as a public good. Society as a whole, as well as its individual members, benefits from an increase in security. Security sector reform must be understood as a broad concept, which also entails a more efficient use of scarce resources to improve security. It seeks to align the contributions of military, diplomatic, development and security actors. Democratic, civilian control over security forces is crucial for the provision of security in the interests of the population. Democratic decision-making requires transparency and accountability. Security sector reform is widely recognised as key to conflict prevention, peace-building, sustainable development and democratisation. Almost all states need to reform their security sectors to a greater or lesser extent, according to the specific security, political and socio-economic contexts, as well as in response to the new security challenges resulting from globalization.
 
 
 Received: 15 September 2022 / Accepted: 24 October 2022 / Published: 30 November 2022

THE ROLE OF OSCE IN COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND RADICALIZATION

Numerous terrorist attacks, mass shootings, war crimes and less brutal instances of deviant behaviour such as commitment to radical Islamism or hatred against other nations often tend to be the manifestation of one of the last stages of radicalization. There is no single scenario, according to which radicalization proceeds. Absolutely different reasons can encourage a person to renounce normal values and accept the idea that the world can and should be fundamentally changed, sometimes even by force and violence. This is the main reason why OSCE adopted a “Whole-of-Society” approach to counter radicalization and its brutal results throughout the OSCE area. The adopted strategy is highly comprehensive and tackles not only different aspects of radicalization (e.g. gender, war, post-conflict, etc.) but also numerous institutions (e.g. families, churches, mosques, schools, scholars, etc.) that can detect and prevent radicalization of a person and integrate him or her back into the society. This article provides an analysis of OSCE efforts in this field by studying OSCE reports on extremism and radicalization and evaluating achieved outcomes. It finds out that despite being highly inclusive and all-pervasive with various successful instances in different regions, a bulk of member states do not have a platform that would facilitate communication between all actors involved to provide early warning and rehabilitate radicals. Efforts to develop a comprehensive framework are too costly, leading to limited projects and initiatives. Further research in finding the most efficient ways to implement OSCE ideas in the OSCE member states and beyond is required.

The Purposes and Principles of the un Charter Origins, Subsequent Developments in Law and Practice and (Mis)interpretation in the Context of Unilateral Secession Claims in the osce Area

The article reviews the purposes and principles of the u.n. Charter in light of persistent claims voiced in the context of protracted conflicts in the osce area that the principle of self-determination allegedly grants the right to unilateral secession. The drafting history of the Charter indicate that States did not recognise a right to unilateral secession of a part of population of a State as a means of exercising self-determination. Subsequent development of this principle in law and in practice in the decades after the adoption of the Charter to a large extent has been shaped by the original ideas and understanding that went into the Charter. Invalidation at the international level of secessionist claims and actions, collective non-recognition of the resulting situations and abstention from aid or assistance that contributes to their consolidation are among legal and political consequences that have been applied and need to be consistently maintained with regard to the protracted conflicts in the osce area and their settlement processes.

PREVENTING THE “ISLAMIC STATE” IN CENTRAL ASIA: CONDITIONS, RISKS, AND PEACE POLICY REQUIREMENTS

Preventing with Peace Policies or Counterinsurgency - What Is at Stake?In Central Asia, the operates under the name IS Khorasan2 via Afghanistan. It has approximately 6,500 fighters from all of the Central Asian states under its command. division is an offshoot of under the leadership of Hafiz Saeed, a Pashtun appointed the Emir of the Khorasan Caliphate in Afghanistan by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of IS. In view of this danger and other risks, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), led by Russia, decided a range of measures in 2015 to secure the external borders of the Central Asia states with Afghanistan, particularly along the 1,300-km border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Likewise, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has also addressed military and security policy measures aimed at preventing from entering the region.The experience gained in the War on Terror and with counterinsurgency measures in the Middle East and Afghanistan may only have a limited value in the effort to prevent from spreading to the Eurasian OSCE area. first reason, according to the Peace Report 2015 published by the German peace research institutes, is that the primacy of military and security policy measures proved to be fatal in the fight against and other jihadist groups: The 'War on Terror' proclaimed after September 11, 2001 [...] to a large extent produced more of the terrorism that it was supposed to prevent.3 second reason is that this approach only has a limited effect in terms of deradicalization and, in some respects, can also be counterproductive because it leads to the disintegration of states and produces flows of refugees.However, the findings regarding the character, objectives and tactics of should not be neglected. First, this includes the understanding that is not only a brutal terrorist organization with a Salafist-jihadist orientation, but also an uprising and a movement at the same time.4 According to statements made at an expert hearing before US Congress, the organization's objective is to bring about revolutionary change of the existing political and order. Thus, the strategic challenge of our generation is not one characterized by its objective of establishing a Salafist state (caliphate) and abolishing artificial international borders, which it claims were drawn with the aim of dividing the Islamic community.5 Third, predominantly attacks weak states with a strong potential for internal conflicts, religious polarization and state failure. These characteristics mean that is much more dangerous than a mere terrorist organization, which could be targeted with countermeasures aimed specifically at the organization. However, the Eurocentric security initiative of combating Islamist terrorism to prevent it from spreading to Europe does not focus on preventing conflicts and tackling their causes, and therefore leaves room for Salafist-jihadist groups to operate in the OSCE area.What is at stake is that - as a violent and uncompromisingly Salafist revolutionary and social organization - would have a sustained influence on and could even forcibly change regimes, ongoing developments and the distribution of power in a key region of Eurasia. This particularly applies to the strengthening of governance in uncompleted nation-building processes, such as in Central Asia. Therefore, questions arise: Can secular states continue to exist, or will they be replaced by either moderate or radical Islamic states? Which interpretation of Islam will the populations follow when turning to Islam in huge numbers as in Central Asia - a modern Islamic or a radical interpretation?6 And finally: Will the common Eurasian region be divided by a belt of caliphates?Transregional Instability as a Gateway for ISThe Central Asian and the Caucasian transition regions are characterized by cross-generational discontent and insecurity. …

Osce Mediation in an Eroding International Order

The feeling is widespread in the West that the post wwii normative international order has been under severe challenge since Russia’s seizure of Crimea, now exacerbated by statements from the American president casting doubt on the institutions that underpin that order. Is there a future role for osce mediation as this order erodes? Study of the Ukraine crisis in light of other protracted conflicts on the territory of the former Soviet Union shows that the same challenges have existed for a generation. Because the conflicts were small, however, the international community chose to accept a fiction of convenience to isolate them from an otherwise functioning international order: the narrative that the separatists sought independence, not (as in reality) a re-drawing of post-Soviet borders. This isolation is under pressure both from the new experience in Ukraine and from the extension of ever-greater Russian control over the separatists, amounting to crypto-annexation, despite a backlash from Moscow’s clients, including in Armenia. There is little likelihood of a resolution to the Ukraine crisis, including Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and prospects for mediation to resolve the conflicts remain dim. However, continued talks may resolve some humanitarian issues and provide a release valve to prevent pressures boiling over into renewed open warfare. In 2015 the present author published an article outlining some effects of the Ukraine crisis on protracted conflicts in the osce area and on osce mediation in those conflicts. 1 He has been asked to revisit his assessment of that time in light of subsequent events in world politics (in particular the advent of a new administration in the United States) and in the region. The new developments give little cause for optimism that settlement in any of the conflicts is closer. Rather, the question for the osce is whether the international community, in view of the challenges posed by the Ukraine crisis, should continue to engage in the fictions that have allowed it to manage the conflicts since their beginnings in the collapsing Soviet Union.

Osce Conflict Management in Central Asia

Conflicts and their management in Central Asia have never been prioritised by the osce although five states of the region are among its participating states. This has been due to that unlike in some other parts of the post-Soviet space most of the conflicts did not threaten with military escalation, and the intensity of strategic rivalry is less noticeable in this distant part of the osce area than closer to the heart of Europe. The fact Russia is not a direct party to the conflicts in Central Asia also reduces the interests of many participating states. There was one high intensity conflict in the region, the Tajik civil war that came too early for the osce. Lower intensity conflicts, ranging from border skirmishes, disputes about access to water, violation of rights of national minority groups, rigged elections are monitored and their resolutions are facilitated by the organisation. Some of them, like the 2010 Kyrgyz-Uzbek conflict had such short shelf-life internationally that no consensus-based inter-governmental organisation could have effectively intervened into it. The osce has been successful in conflict management when the party or parties also wanted to break the stale-mate that the Organization could facilitate. Domestic change in some Central Asian states is essential for advancing the osces cooperative security approach.

Tearing Down Real and Cognitive Walls Preventing Osce Compassion For Human Security in South-Eastern Europe

The risk of underestimating the security problems which lie ahead in South-Eastern Europe is once more significant. This time the scope is not only the Western Balkans and the appropriate perspective not only on the level of state security. The osce and indeed the incoming osce Chair for 2016, Germany, is called upon to take this challenge seriously. But the focus of osce attention needs to be prioritised in order to focus on the osce area itself.

Human Rights in Times of Crisis

The article looks at the defense and promotion of human rights – and of the osce’s broader human dimension of security – in a context of what could be called “multiple crises”, i.e., the crisis in and around Ukraine, the refugee crisis in Europe, and the threat of terrorism. While the inclination might be to address these crises with a classical “politico-military” approach, the argument here is that an approach based on ensuring the human dimension of security – human rights, the strengthening of democratic institutions and the rule of law, and promoting tolerance while combating discrimination – is just as vital if real and lasting resolutions to these crises are to be found. The article argues that, while the current crises represent dangers in relation to security in the osce area, they also represent opportunities to reaffirm the importance of the human dimension as part of the osce’s comprehensive approach to that very same security.

Insecurity and Common Interests in Security in the osce Area

How can we improve security in the immense area of the fifty-seven participating states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (osce)? The author addresses this question by appealing to the Final Report and Recommendations of the Panel of Eminent Persons on European Security as a Common Project. This Report is full of insights, and much of it is seen by the author as an honest account of the events and policies that divide osce countries. On the basis of the final report, the author offers twelve concrete recommendations that may promote trust in the osce area.

Odihr hcnm Handbook on Observing and Promoting the Participation of National Minorities in the Electoral Process

This article provides an overview of the odihr hcnm Handbook on Observing and Promoting the Participation of National Minorities in the Electoral Process. It includes a brief but important discussion of some recurrent issues that have been identified in election observation across the osce region with respect to national minority participation. These findings informed the drafting of the Handbook, which, however, due to its format, does not provide illustrations of particular situations. Thus, this article complements the Handbook by providing references to the concrete examples from the osce area.

Threats and Challenges to the osce Area

In regards to the next five to ten years, the erosion of the international rule of law and the laws of war, as well as the violent struggle over territorial integrity, self-determination and role of kin-states will probably be the most important threats for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Other challenges are increasing incentives for an international arms race coupled with the introduction of new modes of warfare, as well as the spill over of the brutal conflicts in the region of Middle East and North Africa, the rising aggressiveness of authoritarian systems, looming trade and energy confrontations and the failures of social integration and inequality.

Chronicle: Smoldering powder kegs in OSCE area

Chronicle: Smoldering powder kegs in OSCE area

Chronicle: Smoldering powder kegs in OSCE area

Chronicle: Smoldering powder kegs in OSCE area

The road to conflict resolution: A comparative analysis of frozen conflicts in the OSCE area

In this paper the authors comparatively analyze the frozen conflicts in the OSCE area with an objective to discover specific features of the road to their solution. An accent has been put on the post-Soviet conflicts, while Kosovo and Cyprus are treated as subsidiary cases. A decisive element of the frozen conflict definition is a disharmony between the legal and factual state regarding territorial changes which took place as a consequence of an armed conflict. Thus, the international law aspect is the most important in considering possibilities for settlement of these conflicts. Other aspects which are analyzed in the paper are security, energy, economic, and democratic ones. The common conclusion of the analysis of each of these aspects is that the USA and Russia are the key actors which influence these frozen conflicts? resolution. In the absence of their consensus, these conflicts are doomed to remain frozen in the long run.

IDPs and refugees in the OSCE area

AbstractThis year marks the 60th anniversary of the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 50th anniversary of the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. And yet there are almost 5 million refugees and internally displaced persons in the OSCE area. The crisis in North Africa and the Middle East is creating a vast new displacement challenge, including for OSCE participating States. What are the legal and policy gaps in terms of protection? And what steps are the OSCE and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) taking to tackle the problem of IDPs, refugees and statelessness in the OSCE?

Improving OSCE Human Dimension events — A never-ending story

AbstractAs long as the HDIM and other Human Dimension events exists, there is discussion on the formula and Ambassador Gremiger's attempts, even though not new, should be welcomed. Some intrinsic elements make it however difficult to find a format that is satisfying to all. In the first place there is the fact that the HDIM will not produce a negotiated document, which makes it difficult to capture the interest of governments. Furthermore, the growth of the European Union, which speaks with one voice, entails that interest mainly goes to the fringe of the OSCE area. On the other hand, several seminars (e.g. Roma and Sinti, Religious Freedom and Women's Rights) have contributed to enhanced interest within the OSCE . It should never be forgotten that the HDIM and other meetings are a tool, not an aim in themselves.

Engaging Civil Society in the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict: What Role for the EU and its Neighbourhood Policy?

The conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, opposing Armenia and Azerbaijan, is the longest conflict in the OSCE area and a fundamental security threat to the South Caucasus and surrounding regions, preventing full and inclusive economic development and constraining regional relations. This chapter takes the ENP as a conflict transformation tool and looks at how the EU has used this initiative to reach civil society organisations (CSOs) and improve their performance as peace-builders in this protracted conflict. Building on the theoretical framework presented by Tocci (2008), the chapter assesses EU involvement in the civil society domain, mapping the types of organisations privileged by the EU and the potential impact of their activities on the conflict. It puts forward relevant arguments regarding the suitability of the EU’s goals and instruments to the dynamics on the ground and concludes with a categorisation of the EU’s approach according to three hypotheses: The Liberal Peace, the Leftist Critique and the Realist hypothesis. It is argues that work with civil society is a crucial part of the EU’s approach, despite the difficulties of making such engagement a central part of its peace-building and conflict transformation activities.

Towards a new security architecture in the OSCE area: How to include human rights?

Towards a new security architecture in the OSCE area: How to include human rights?

The 'cartoon' controversy: The need for respect within freedom

What had started in 2005 as an intra-cultural tongue-in-cheek provocation by a Danish newspaper on the subject of the Prophet Mohammed has since early 2006 become an inter-cultural clash on a horrifying scale. This clash has already claimed lives, and mobilised mass demonstrations and even some governments against a perceived collective Danish, or European, desire to humiliate the whole of Islam. A year later, we grow conscious of the fact that the crisis did not bring a symmetrical rapprochement between the standards of the seeming protagonists. While the mainline free press worldwide has striven to improve its self-regulatory practice by adding the obligation for increased cultural sensitivity, we have seen many lawsuits against caricaturists or writers for incitement, allegedly committed by depictions of religious subjects. In several countries, including Russia, Belarus and Azerbaijan, post-scandal procedures against editors who published the caricatures only prove this point. In this article, Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, will recall what actually happened, and will offer practical comments on his Office's tasks in preserving freedom while helping the growth of cultural understanding throughout the OSCE area.