31 March 2023 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on Civil Society Engagement Kyriakos Hadjiyianni and officers of the PA’s general committees today held a consultation call with dozens of representatives from civil society across the OSCE region, in preparation for the 2023 Annual Session being held this summer in Vancouver. Committee rapporteurs presented ideas for their reports and draft resolutions and listened to feedback to consider ahead of the Annual Session, where the draft resolutions will be debated, amended and voted on for inclusion in the Vancouver Final Declaration.
Opening the meeting, Hadjiyianni noted that the OSCE PA has always greatly valued the involvement of civil society experts and representatives in its work, which helps ensure that the political content is as relevant and impactful as possible. “We have been exchanging on numerous topics related to the three dimensions of security as encompassed by the OSCE: politico-military, economic and environmental, and the human dimension,” he said. “With this consultation call, our goal is to replicate what parliamentarians do at the national level when consulting civil society representatives as part of the legislative processes.”
Pointing out that the PA’s declarations carry significant political weight within the OSCE region, Hadjiyianni invited the civil society representatives to share their observations, opinions and knowledge, to help inform the work of the committees and shape the first drafts of these key documents.
The Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine featured prominently in discussions, with participants noting that it has caused immense suffering in terms of death, abuse, displacement and other traumas. The war affects all three dimensions of security, with impacts on human rights, economic and environmental security, and the threat posed by escalation of the conflict to global peace.
Among other top concerns raised by NGO representatives were issues related to nuclear weapons, freedom of the assembly and association, and the persistence of politically-motivated imprisonments. Participants also discussed the broader state of the OSCE, and how the organization could be strengthened.
“The OSCE PA has long enjoyed good co-operation with civil society experts and representatives on a wide range of topics,” said Johan Büser, Rapporteur of the Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions. “This initiative aims at providing the opportunity to interested civil society representatives to share their knowledge and expertise, and to inform deliberations on the documents that will be considered at the 2023 Vancouver Annual Session.”
Büser pointed out that in his report and draft resolution, he plans to focus on four broad groups of challenges and intends to propose implementable recommendations to the current challenges in the region.
The rapporteur of the Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment, Gudrun Kugler (Austria), emphasized the importance of proposing recommendations that are practical and can help with policy development. She outlined a range of topics she intends to address, including related to demographic changes, the impact of corruption, and potential security threats from new technologies. In the field of environmental work, she underlined the need for real change, and noted the importance of acknowledging progress that has already been achieved.
Kugler also stressed the importance of stable, resilient economies. “The first prerequisite for this to actually work is peace,” she said. Looking to the future, she called for consideration of “What do we need to put in place now, so that a strong Ukraine can arise after peace has been achieved.”
Laurynas Kasciunas (Lithuania), Rapporteur of the Committee on Political Affairs and Security, had shared remarks noting that the OSCE participating States have been working over the years to strengthen mutual trust, transparency and predictability, to mitigate risks, and to promote stability and security in the OSCE area.
“Together, we developed a framework of mutually reinforcing arms control agreements and confidence building measures, as well as a solid body of our OSCE commitments across all three dimensions, thus enhancing security in Europe,” Kasciunas had noted. “However, Russia’s unjustifiable and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine seriously damaged, if not completely destroyed, the entire OSCE security framework.”
Taking into account the input from civil society, the OSCE PA committee officers will now begin finalizing the reports and draft resolutions to be presented at the Annual Session in Vancouver.
