COPENHAGEN, 31 May 2013 – Parliamentarians have supported 29 items to be debated at the Annual Session next month in Istanbul. The items introduced by MPs from 17 different countries cover issues ranging from international adoption to media freedom, Arctic policy to the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
The supplementary items still require support from a 2/3 vote of the Standing Committee before being included in the agenda for further committee debate in Istanbul.
The approved items to date include the following:
1. Strengthening Civil Society Institutions in the OSCE Region (Guliyev of Azerbaijan)
2. Enhancing Trust, Transparency and Accountability within the OSCE Institutions (De Donnea of Belgium)
3. Strengthening the Role of Education in Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Other Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination (Bostanci of Turkey)
4. The Role of Local and Regional Authorities in Post-Conflict Rehabilitation Scenarios (Amor of Spain)
5. Promoting Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency in the OSCE Region (Zarubinskyi of Ukraine)
6. Trafficking Victim Watchfulness: Planes, Trains, Buses, and Hotels (Smith of the United States)
7. The Humanitarian Crisis in Syria (Onen of Turkey)
8. Inter-country Adoptions (Wicker of the United States)
9. Freedom of the Media (Arena of Belgium)
10. Promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief (Allison of Canada)
11. Environmental Dimension of Energy Security (Açigöz of Turkey)
12. Enlarging the Partnership with Non-Member Mediterranean States to Include the Palestinian National Authority (Arena of Belgium)
13. The Transdniestrian Settlement Process (Zarubinskyi of Ukraine)
14. Cyber Security (Pakosta of Estonia)
15. The Arctic (Harstedt of Sweden)
16. Water Management as a Priority for the OSCE CiO in 2014 (Berckmoes of the Netherlands)
17. Citizenship Issues (Kovalev of the Russian Federation)
18. Strengthening Security in Border Areas of the OSCE Region (Aknazarova of Kyrgyzstan)
19. Guantanamo (Lord Dubs of the United Kingdom)
20. Belarus (Holm of Sweden)
21. The Situation in Kazakhstan (von Cramon of Germany)
22. The Situation in the Middle East and its effect on the OSCE area (Pozuelo of Spain)
23. Gender Aspects of Labour Migration (Bychkova of Kazakhstan)
24. Ensuring that Chilren have the right to be protected from Economic Exploitation (Bychkova of Kazakhstan)
25. Protection of the Environment in the Baltic Sea (Kauma of Finland)
26. Recognition of the Yogyakarta Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity (Arena of Belgium)
27. Kurds in Turkey (Chaudhry of Norway)
28. Human Rights in the Russian Federation (De Caluwe of the Netherlands)
29. Co-operation for transition to a green economy in the context of sustainable development (Guminsky of Belarus)
Items may still be disqualified if the required number of sponsors is not present at the Annual Session.
