OSCE, Alm.del - 2011-12 - Bilag 41: Permanent Council Brief Week 30, 2012

Permanent Council Brief Week 30, 2012This week, there were meetings of the Permanent Council, the FSC, subsidiary bodies andseveral meetings of informal working groups. The Irish Chairmanship hosted an informalbriefing in which I presented the outcome of the Monaco Annual Session, including detailsof the Declaration and the resolutions which have been adopted. After the presentation,I answered a number of questions from delegates.The PC took several managerial decisions on future meetings, the most important – be-cause always very contentious - one being the decision on the agenda for the next HumanDimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw (September 24 to October 5, 2012). Russiahad dropped its request to include “the whole range of commitments in this area, includingthe integral component of economic, social and cultural rights” in order to contribute to theconsensus, but made its request the subject of an interpretative statement.Other conferences will be the 2012 Economic and Environmental Dimension Implementa-tion Meeting in Vienna (October 16/17, 2012), the OSCE Mediterranean Conference inRome (October 30/31, 2012), and the 21stEconomic and Environmental Forum (Prague,September 11 – 13, 2013). The PC also adopted two of the three draft decisions on trans-national threats, which until the very last minute had been victims of a terminology disputebetween Armenia and Azerbaijan. The adopted decisions are on the OSCE Concept forCombating the Threat of Illicit Drugs and the Diversion of Chemical Precursors, and on theOSCE Strategic Framework on Police-Related Activities. The decision on an Anti-Terrorism Framework is still open.During the PC meeting, I made another less comprehensive statement of the outcome ofthe Monaco Session. I would have liked to make it – like last year - under “Current Issues”,in order to trigger replies from participating States, but the Chairmanship insisted thatI should make it under “Any other Business”, a point under which replies are given only inexceptional cases. In this context, I also briefed the PC about the upcoming PA observa-tion mission of the elections in Belarus. As expected, I did not get any reactions from dele-gations with the exception of the Chairman of the Permanent Council who reiterated thecongratulations for President Migliori.The OSCE will now have its Summer Recess. The next regular Permanent Council meet-ing will take place on September 6, 2012. My next PC Brief will therefore come out at theend of the first week of September. I wish everybody a pleasant summer!

Special Representative