Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
Permanent Council Brief Weeks 47, 2006
This week, meetings of the Permanent Council, the Contact Group with the Asian Partners, the Preparatory Committee, the Advisory Committee for Management and Finance, the Working Group on Reform, and other working groups, took place.
The Permanent Council approved the extension of the mandates of the Missions to Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Baku, Bishkek, and Dushanbe. The High Commissioner on National Minorities reported about his visits to Ukraine, Georgia, the Balkans, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Latvia and referred to his Report on integration policies presented to the PA Annual Session as a useful model to policymakers. Under “Current Issuesâ€, the Permanent Council discussed the conditions for the imprisonment of Mr. Kozulin, who is on a hunger strike, a new constitutional law in Uzbekistan and the “Millennium Challenge†Program.
The main focus of the work was on the preparations for the Ministerial Council. The current list of drafts under discussion is attached. While there is little hope for a Ministerial Council Declaration to be adopted, because of the continuing disagreements about the mentioning of Russia’s unfulfilled Istanbul Commitments, the discussions focused on the response ministers are expected to give to the two reports on the implementation of the “Ljubljana Roadmap on Reformâ€, one of which is ODIHR’s report that I have described in the last Permanent Council Brief. The Chairmanship already in its “Food for Thoughtâ€-paper, which is supposed to trigger a draft text, included some language about the role of the Parliamentary Assembly in election monitoring. In Friday’s Preparatory Committee and in yesterday’s informal consultations on this paper I have introduced a text proposed by the Parliamentary Assembly President which basically consists of a welcoming of the relevant part of the Parliamentary Assembly’s Brussels Declaration. Russia insisted to include language on a role of the Permanent Council and the Parliamentary Assembly in examining and improving election methodology. Strong support for the Parliamentary Assembly’s role came from Albania.
The draft Ministerial Declaration, which in its first version had only contained very “thin†language on the Parliamentary Assembly, has been improved somewhat in its second version. It is still not sufficient, and part of it has to be seen in connection with the ongoing efforts to find appropriate language on election monitoring and to get the text proposed by the President in. Another central point of discussion will be the 2009 OSCE Chairmanship and efforts to find a solution that can get a consensus. The most likely version is that no decision will be taken.
The Contact Group with the Asian Partners discussed, among other things, the next OSCE-Asia Conference, which will probably be held early next summer in Ulan Bator, Mongolia.
Andreas Nothelle
Ambassador
November 29, 2006
Status of documents proposed for adoption by the
OSCE Ministerial Council in the year 2006
(as of 27 November 2006, 10 a.m.)
MC.DD/23/06/Rev.2 Draft Brussels ministerial declaration
Under discussion in
PrepComm
Cross-dimensional issues
MC.DD/12/06/Rev.3 Draft decision on organized crime
Under discussion in PrepComm
MC.DD/25/06/Rev.1 Draft Brussels declaration on criminal justice
systems
Under discussion in PrepComm
PC.DEL/999/06/Rev.2 Draft decision on OSCE framework for security
sector governance
Under discussion in the WGNMAS
Terrorism
MC.DD/13/06 Draft decision on further measures to prevent the
criminal use of lost/stolen passports and other
travel documents
Under discussion in PrepComm
MC.DD/16/06/Rev.1 Draft decision on countering the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes
Under discussion in the WGNMAS
MC.DD/17/06/Rev.1 Draft Brussels ministerial statement on
supporting and promoting the international legal framework against terrorism
Under discussion in the WGNMAS
FSC issues
MC.DD/6/06 Draft decision on further efforts to implement
the OSCE Documents on Small Arms and
Light Weapons and Stockpiles of Conventional Ammunition
Consensus in WGA, forwarded to the FSC
MC.DD/11/06 Draft decision on combating the illicit
trafficking of small arms and light weapons by air
Consensus in WGB, forwarded to the FSC
MC.DD/24/06 Draft decision on supporting national
implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1540
Under discussion in WGB
Economic and environmental issues
MC.DD/15/06 Draft decision on the future transport dialogue in the OSCE
Under discussion in PrepComm
MC.DD/26/06 Draft decision on energy security dialogue in the OSCE
Submitted to PrepComm
MC.DD/27/06 Draft ministerial statement on migration
Submitted to PrepComm
MC.DD/28/06 Draft ministerial statement on the Environment
and Security Initiative (ENVSEC)
Submitted to PrepComm
Human dimension issues
MC.DD/18/06/Rev.2 Draft decision on combating intolerance and
discrimination and promoting mutual respect and understanding
Submitted to PrepComm
MC.DD/19/06/Rev.2 Draft decision on enhancing anti-trafficking
efforts through a comprehensive and proactive approach
Submitted to PrepComm
MC.DD/20/06/Rev.1 Draft decision on strengthening OSCE
engagement with human rights defenders and
independent national human rights institutions
Under discussion in PrepComm
MC.DD/21/06/Rev.2 Draft decision on media twinning: capacity building
in support of professional media through peer-to-peer exchanges
Under discussion in PrepComm
MC.DD/22/06/Rev.2 Draft decision on combating the sexual exploitation of children
Under discussion in PrepComm
Implementation of Ljubljana Ministerial Council decision No. 17/05 (Reform)
MC.DD/7/06/Rev.1 Draft decision on improvement of the consultative process (“3 Committeesâ€)
To be submitted to PrepComm
MC.DD/8/06/Rev.3 Draft decision on the legal status and privileges
and immunities of the OSCE
Under discussion in PrepComm
MC.DD/9/06/Rev.2 Draft decision on further strengthening the
OSCE Secretariat, the institutions and field operations
Under discussion in PrepComm
MC.DD/10/06/Rev.3 Draft decision on the procedure for selection of
the Secretary General and heads of institutions
Under discussion in PrepComm
CIO.GAL/218/06 Food-for-thought “Draft decision on strengthening the efficiency of the OSCEâ€
Under discussion