Special Representative

 

 

To:

 

PA President

 

and

 

PA Secretary General

 

 

 

 

Permanent Council Brief 25/26 Week, 2008

 

During these two weeks, meetings of the Permanent Council, the FSC, the Preparatory Committee and the Advisory Committee for Management and Finance, as well as of other committees, took place.

 

The Permanent Council took the decision to extend the mandate of the current Secretary General by another three years. It also adopted decisions on Decision on the mandate of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, and on the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Project Coordinator in, Ukraine. The agenda for the 2008 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, which also was expected to be accepted, was not adopted due to an objection voiced by Turkmenistan. The issue behind is again the admission of certain individuals to the meeting who belong to organizations Turkmenistan considers to be a terrorist organizations under Turkmen law. Russia shared Turkmenistan’s concerns, while others rejected the objections. The issue of the admission of organizations or individuals to the Human Dimension Implementation Meetings, who are judged to be illegal or even criminal under national law of certain participating States, has been escalating and threatens the holding of these events.

 

Other main points on the Permanent Council agenda were reports by the Head of the OSCE Office in Minsk, by the HCNM and by the Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities. The HCNM Ambassador Vollebaek touched upon issues in several countries that he had visited. Among the problems he mentioned was the implementation of minority rights at the local level in Kosovo. In this context, he drew the attention to the high importance of continuing the work of the international community, including the OSCE. He also reported about his work with the Kazakh authorities and mentioned that he will make use of the opportunity of the upcoming OSCE PA Annual Session to continue his talks. Russia, in the context of what he said about the minorities in Ukraine, launched the idea of a possible OSCE mission to the Crimean peninsula.

 

I briefed the Permanent Council about the upcoming Annual Session. This week, a group of young Kazakh diplomats participating in a training course of the Hamburg CORE Institute visited the Liaison Office in order to receive a briefing on the activities of the OSCE PA.

 

 

 

Andreas Nothelle

Ambassador

July 4, 2008