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The 2021 OSCE Swedish Chairpersonship

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The 2021 OSCE Swedish Chairpersonship 30. März 2021 Multilateraler Dialog Wien The 2021 OSCE Swedish Chairpersonship In a nutshell, the first 100 days Claudia Crawford and Brigitte-Erika Krech Sweden took over the OSCE Chairpersonship in January 2021 as the largest regional secu- Difficult waters for the OSCE rity organization with 57 participating States representing more than one billion people The organization went through some heavy wa- from North America, through Europe to Cen- ters in the recent past; frozen conflicts became tral Asia. violent such as in Nagorno-Karabakh, other con- flicts continue despite all efforts. The 57 could The first 100 days of the Swedish Chairperson- not agree on extending the four vacant top jobs ship have passed, which offers a good oppor- of the Secretary General and the three Heads of tunity to look at the challenges in guiding the Institutions in the summer of 2020, which was OSCE; what has been achieved so far; and to dis- settled almost last-minute during the virtual Min- cuss how to approach the next couple of months. isterial Council Meeting in December 2020 under the Albanian Chair, where Mrs. Helga Maria The OSCE stands for Comprehensive Schmid was appointed as Secretary General Security heading the Secretariat. The OSCE is an inclusive forum for dialogue on Sweden, being represented by Mrs. Ann Linde, security issues and uses a comprehensive ap- Minister for Foreign Affairs as Chairperson-in-Of- proach towards security, covering politico-mili- fice (CiO) this year, has taken up the Chairperson- tary, economic and environmental as well as hu- ship during a crucial period of time. Challenges man aspects. Activities range from confidence- have become more complex, even without con- building measures, conflict prevention, arms con- sidering the Covid-pandemic. The previous Swe- trol, the fight against human trafficking, fostering dish Chairpersonship, which dates back to 1993, energy security, combating corruption and pro- was confronted with the consequences of the im- moting women economic empowerment, con- plosion of the Soviet Union and the Balkan War. nectivity and human rights, as well as election But it was in a time that was still marked by the observation. The origin of the OSCE goes back to euphoria about overcoming the Iron Curtain in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe. In contrast, current security threats from Europe during the times of the Cold War, which ongoing conflicts, organized crime, terrorism, led to the signing of the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, cyber threats and environmental destruction in which the signing countries agree to refrain take place in an atmosphere of increasing con- from the threat or use of force. frontation among the OSCE participating States. The Secretariat is based in Vienna with a network Sweden’s priorities of field operations between South-Eastern and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The field mis- Sweden is focusing its programme on 'back to sions are established upon agreement by the basics'. Sweden is prioritizing on common values host country. The OSCE’s ‘mandate’ is based of diplomatic dialogue, co-operation and shared upon commitments, including the Helsinki Final commitments, aiming at defending the European Act with the 10 principles (Decalogue), to the security order. Work on conflict resolution in Paris Charter of 1990 and the Vienna Document, Ukraine has a high priority. Minister Linde has al- to Ministerial Council Decisions. ready visited the region. The Swedish Presidency Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V. Länderbericht 30. März 2021 2 has recently achieved an initial success and has civil society and addressing women in peace- cleared the blockades for the extension of the building is being underlined by Sweden. mandate of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in eastern Ukraine. Another focus is set on Germany as a strong supporter the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, which needs a sustainable political solution. In the course of the Germany is supporting Sweden in the important summer, the Swedish Chairpersonship will focus endeavours ahead. The current pandemic puts on the negotiations to prepare the upcoming an obstacle into sustainable diplomatic trust- Ministerial Council meeting in Stockholm on 2 building, where regular personal contacts are key and 3 December 2021. and cannot be fully replaced by virtual meetings. Germany welcomes the OSCE election observa- In its agenda, Sweden is also addressing the im- tion missions as a visible added value towards plementation of the UN Security Council Resolu- democracy. It should be recommended to in- tion 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. clude the potential influence of modern cam- Women are still underrepresented in the area of paigning or the use of new technologies into the conflict resolution. Besides, Sweden is concen- election observation methodology by ODIHR, the trating on gender equal societies, which have Office for Democratic Institutions and Human better prospects for resilient and sustainable de- Rights. velopment. Women are exposed to economic vulnerabilities. In the OSCE economic dimension, The OSCE’s toolbox on conflict resolution, aiming Sweden will focus on women’s economic empow- at facilitating dialogue among conflicting parties, erment to enable political participation by can only be meaningful with adequate political women in conflict prevention. will by all the stakeholders. The OSCE has the unique approach of consensus-based decisions. The Chairpersonship is, in addition, assisted by Unnecessary pressure that misuses this principle Special Representatives to ensure better co-ordi- is jeopardizing the functioning of the Organiza- nation of participating States’ efforts in specific tion. It is to be hoped that the Swedish Chairper- areas, e.g. Youth and Security, Gender, Anti-Cor- sonship will be able to prevent such attempts. ruption, and South Caucasus. The involvement of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V. Claudia Crawford Leiterin Multilateraler Dialog Wien Europäische und Internationale Zusammenarbeit www.kas.de [email protected] Der Text dieses Werkes ist lizenziert unter den Bedingungen von „Creative Commons Namensnennung-Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen 4.0 international”, CC BY-SA 4.0 (abrufbar unter: https://creativecom mons.org/licenses/ by-sa/4.0/legalcode.de) www.kas.de .
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