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 ...
... was the venue of the final seminar under the Helsinki+40 project held to discuss the
final version of the report
compiled on the basis of debates and analytical materials produced by think tanks during the project period.
The event was attended by OSCE PA President Ilkka Kanerva, OSCE PA Secretary General Spencer Oliver, GMF Senior Vice President Ivan Vejvoda, Director of Swedish Institute of International Affairs Mats Karlsson, RIAC member Professor Andrey Zagorsky of MGIMO-University, Director ...
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 ...
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,...
... 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 of post-Cold War settlement and democratization. By the end of the 20th century, it became the world’s largest security-oriented organization. However, this was also the time when it faced a systemic and existential crisis....
... has undergone a major test. However, we should admit that even before the Ukraine crisis, the architecture of Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security remained shaky and unstable. In this context, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as the most comprehensive and inclusive international organization in the region, should reconsider its approach to building a security community in a changing world that is currently confronted with three fundamental and intertwined challenges....
The results of the “Euro-Atlantic Security: The Role of the OSCE in the Changing World” essay contest for young foreign affairs specialists, organized by the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) as part of the Helsinki+40 project are in. RIAC would like to thank everybody who took part in the contest ...
On May 27-28, 2015, Belgrade hosted the final seminar "Helsinki+40: Reaffirming the Strengths, Envisioning the Prospects" organized by the
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
and
Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence
.
Focused on the OSCE missions and participation of civil society in its daily activities, the program also covered assessment of results produced by the previous seminars in
Moscow
...
On April 27, 2105, RIAC Program Manager Natalia Evtikhevich was in Copenhagen to take part in seminar “Flaws in the OSCE Legal Status: Challenges in a Crisis Environment” held by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and Danish Institute for International Studies.
The participants focused on the status of the OSCE Ukraine mission, problems generated by the lack of ...
Interview with Andrey Kortunov
Having been created more than a generation ago by the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) now faces one of the greatest tests of its relevancy and effectiveness since it was created as it searches for a resolution to the Ukrainian crisis. All this as the OSCE prepares to commemorate its 40
th
anniversary in 2015.
To discuss the challenges ...