On the 40th Anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act on Security and Co-Operation in Europe
In the 40 years since the signing of the Helsinki Final Act, the OSCE, which began as the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), has seen its fair share of ups and downs, both during and after the Cold War. The successes, which without a doubt include the signing of the Final Act in 1975 and the adoption of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe in 1990, have always alternated with difficult...
The 40th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe passed almost unnoticed in Russia. Probably because the date falls during the most systemically unstable period in Europe since the declaration was signed.
The Final Act was a large-scale compromise, not so much in terms of concrete details, but in the agenda itself. The Soviet Union got what it initiated the whole process for — confirmation of its post-war European borders...
This summer the world celebrates the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Final Act. The jubilee session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was held in Finland's capital in early July, but the festivities turned pretty sour since Finland banned the entry of several members of the Russian delegation and Moscow refused to attend amidst the Russia-West relationship having become very problematic due the ongoing Ukraine crisis and sanctions.
Here RIAC Program Manager Natalia Evtikhevich, PhD...
... the session was in a way extraordinary, with the Russian delegation absent because some of its members were refused Finnish visas under the EU sanctions. Participation of delegations and reasonable sanction limits were also a matter of discussion.
Helsinki +40 Project presentation of results - FIIA, Helsinki, 5 July 2015
Annual Session, Helsinki, 5-9 July 2015
Over the course of the last forty years, the OSCE’s “area of responsibility” remains a zone of protracted conflicts. Certainly, the amount of violence in the region is less acute in comparison to other hot beds across the globe; however, the number and nature of potential conflicts on its territory give reason enough for careful consideration and urgent action. Be it dormant hostilities in the Balkans or Transnistria, the smoldering stand-off in Nagorno Karabakh, or the frozen conflicts...
Among the multitude of international organizations existing today, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is a unique case. It brings together 57 states across three continents in an effort to build peace and prosperity based on a comprehensive understanding of security.
For the past 40 years, despite all the crises and disagreements the OSCE has faced, it has been able to overcome them successfully, as its member states time and again have realized the importance and necessity...
The Helsinki Final Act of 1975 was a political breakthrough in Cold War Europe. Despite being hardline adversaries, the West and the Communist bloc managed to agree on common principles for the conduct of foreign and domestic policy. These principles included sovereign equality, refraining from the threat or use of force, and respect for human rights. The Helsinki Final Act helped European countries on both sides of the Iron Curtain to overcome their divide. After 1991, the CSCE/OSCE was the spearhead...
“As we analyze our situation and our possibilities, there is no reason for complacency. But we must not be discouraged if in the short term we cannot find the right answers to the multitude of old and new challenges confronting us”
[1]
Wilhelm Höynck, 1994
Our world is rapidly changing due to increasingly complex and contradictory processes that are having a significant influence on the dynamics and transformation of the international system. New centers of power are rising, the...
... September 2014 and the second by the Marshall Fund of the United States in
Washington
in November 2014. The next gathering will take place in Belgrade next May.
Within the framework of this project RIAC organizes an
essay contest for young experts
.
Helsinki +40 seminar #3 - UI/Swedish Parliament, Stockholm, 11 March 2015
On November 25, 2014, RIAC Program Manager Natalia Evtikhevich took part in a meeting of
Helsinki +40
Advisory Board at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute held to discuss the outcomes of international seminars in
Moscow
last September 25 (“Helsinki +40 Process: Prospects for Strengthening the OSCE”) and in
Washington
...
