Calls for co-operation, policy input and preservation of field operation budgets

VIENNA, 11 October 2012 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Riccardo Migliori today called on diplomats in Vienna to heed the voices of the people by including parliamentary input in OSCE policy, protecting field operations, and enforcing the agreement that governs how the OSCE PA leads the election observation missions.

On election observation he called for the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions to live up to the 1997 co-operation agreement, saying there must be consequences when they do not.

"The Chairmanship, for the good of the whole OSCE, should insist on timely information sharing within the OSCE family and respect for the role of each Special Co-ordinator appointed to speak for the OSCE, before a lack of co-operation tarnishes the good name of our Organization in the field of election observation," he told the OSCE Permanent Council.

In order to send the signal that the human dimension belongs at the governing seat of the OSCE year-round, he reminded diplomats of the OSCE PA 2012 Annual Session declaration, which called for regular Permanent Council meetings with NGOs on human rights violations.

Migliori gave a lengthy overview of his activities in the first three months of his presidency, including the high level meetings he has held in nine OSCE participating States.

Saying the OSCE deserves better than "more than reshuffled diplomatic formulas on Ministerial Council paper," he pointed to key recommendations from the OSCE PA Annual Session that should be included in the Dublin Ministerial in December:

• full implementation and continued updating of the Vienna Document 2011
• restarting the negotiations on the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe
• intensify efforts for peaceful and viable solutions to unresolved conflicts
• apply existing procedures in cases of clear, gross and uncorrected human rights violations

Regarding the proposed 2013 OSCE budget, Migliori said, he was deeply concerned that it would take resources away from the field to invest more in the secretariat. "Our Assembly has consistently called for protecting the budgets of the field, and I hope you will find creative ways to fund new projects that leaves those missions whole."