COPENHAGEN, 14 June 2012 (Русский | Français) – A 22-year-old agreement guiding military co-operation between nations should be updated to reflect modern warfare, according to a measure now pending before the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

The resolution for the Committee on Political Affairs and Security calls for increasing transparency among states by lowering the thresholds at which they must inform each other of their military exercises.

Currently, under the Vienna Document, governments must notify one another before launching any military activity involving at least 9,000 troops. They also agree to allow observation of activities involving at least 13,000 troops. The last comprehensive update occurred in 1999, and minor changes were made last year as a first step toward modernizing the document, but no progress has been made since then, and Russia has temporarily stopped implementing the agreement.

"The current thresholds simply do not allow for a suitable level of transparency among today's military commanders," said Vilija Aleknaite Abramikiene (Lithuania), rapporteur of the politico-security committee and author of the resolution. "The OSCE was created to foster co-operation and confidence among our nations. For our agreements to be worth the paper they are written on, it is time we update them."

The Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Political Affairs and Security will consider the resolution at the Monaco Annual Session beginning 5 July.

"Modern warfare and military technology has advanced so rapidly in the past 20 years that these thresholds today seem archaic," said Karl-Georg Wellmann (Germany), committee chairman. "In an age of small units of specialized forces and unmanned drones, we need to update our agreements so trust among OSCE participating States is not based on outdated information."

The resolution is being considered for inclusion in the Assembly's Monaco Declaration, which helps shape OSCE and national policy. Parliamentarians from more than 50 countries will vote on the resolution and declaration in Monaco.

The committee's draft resolution also urges:

• participating States to promote multi-party systems of government,
• the OSCE to adopt long range plans, modify its consensus rule regarding personnel, budget and administrative issues, and re-open OSCE offices in Belarus and Georgia and
• the safe, voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons from the 2008 war in Georgia.

Meetings of the Monaco Annual Session, including committee debates and votes, are open to the press. The session runs 5-9 July 2012. For more information on the Annual Session, click here.