Due to changes in project dates, the content of this release has been modified since original issue.

Seminars at top think-tanks and final colloquium to mark 40th anniversary of Helsinki Final Act; consider past, present and future of OSCE. COPENHAGEN, 30 January 2014 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly today officially launched its Helsinki +40 Project, an initiative that will bring together security and human rights experts, politicians, academia, civil society and the public to evaluate the OSCE's past and chart concrete lines of action for the future. 

Consisting of five seminars at top think-tanks in Russia, the United States, Sweden, Denmark and Serbia over the next two years, the Project will culminate in a Commemorative Helsinki +40 Event in the Finnish capital to mark the 40th anniversary of the OSCE's founding document, the Helsinki Final Act of 1975. The Commemorative Event will be held in July 2015, during the 24th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

Each Helsinki +40 seminar will produce discussion papers and articles that will be synthesized in a Final Report and presented at the 2015 Annual Session.

The Project is chaired by former OSCE PA President Joao Soares (MP, Portugal) and co-chaired by current OSCE PA President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland).

The Project will be co-ordinated by the leadership of the participating think-tanks and experts at the OSCE PA International Secretariat in Copenhagen, led by PA Secretary General Spencer Oliver:

"The Helsinki +40 Project provides a crucial opportunity for us to reinvigorate our mission as an organization. Drawing on a rich cross-section of the OSCE's many interlocutors, this initiative will help us reflect on what we've accomplished and identify where we must reform in order to stay relevant and effective. As the OSCE's democratic backbone, the Parliamentary Assembly is particularly suited to take on this ambitious initiative. I see no more fitting way to mark the 40th anniversary of the Final Act," Oliver said.

"I am grateful to our parliamentarians and the national parliaments of our host countries for their support. I'd also like to express deep appreciation to our participating think-tanks for lending their vision and resources to this project," he added.

The OSCE PA previously  organized a colloquium  in 2005 to consider the status of the OSCE and its future.

For more information, please contact:

OSCE PA Secretary General Spencer Oliver at [email protected];
Programme Officer Maria Chepurina at [email protected];
Communications Director Richard Solash at [email protected];
or call +45 33 37 80 40.