ANNUAL REPORT 2015 OSCE ANNUAL REPORT 2015 01 02 OSCE ANNUAL REPORT 2015 The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is THE WORLD’S LARGEST REGIONAL SECURITY ORGANIZATION working to ensure peace and stability for more than a billion people between Vancouver and Vladivostok. Keeping on top of it all in Avdiivka, Donetsk region Photo by Evgeniy Maloletka OSCE ANNUAL REPORT 2015 03 04 OSCE ANNUAL REPORT 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY GENERAL 2 FIELD OPERATIONS 52 SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE REPORT OF THE CHAIRMANSHIP-IN-OFFICE 6 Presence in Albania 54 Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina 56 PERMANENT COUNCIL 21 Mission in Kosovo 58 Mission to Montenegro 60 Mission to Serbia 62 FORUM FOR SECURITY CO-OPERATION 24 Mission to Skopje 64 EASTERN EUROPE OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY 27 Mission to Moldova 66 Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine 68 SECRETARIAT 31 Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine 72 Conflict Prevention 32 Observer Mission at the Russian Checkpoints 74 Transnational Threats 36 Economic and Environmental Activities 38 SOUTH CAUCASUS Combating Trafficking in Human Beings 40 Gender Equality 42 Project Co-ordinator in Baku 76 Office in Yerevan 78 OFFICE FOR DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS CENTRAL ASIA AND HUMAN RIGHTS 44 Centre in Ashgabat 80 HIGH COMMISSIONER ON NATIONAL MINORITIES 48 Programme Office in Astana 82 Centre in Bishkek 84 REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE MEDIA 50 Office in Tajikistan 86 Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan 88 BILATERAL AGREEMENTS Representative to the Latvian-Russian Joint Commission on Military Pensioners 90 ADVANCING SECURITY AND CO-OPERATION THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS 92 Asian and Mediterranean Partners 93 Co-operation with International and Regional Organizations 95 ANNEXES 98 List of Abbreviations 98 Unified Budget 100 Contributions by participating States 101 Extrabudgetary pledges and expenditures 102 Staff 105 OSCE ANNUAL REPORT 2015 1 Message From the Secretary General MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY GENERAL The crisis in and around Ukraine continued to dominate the OSCE’s agenda in 2015. The OSCE’s facilitation role, both within the Trilateral Contact Group and through its monitoring presence, remains critical to efforts to de-escalate tensions and work towards a return to stability and peace. The Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), now in its second year of operation, continues to be the most visible OSCE activity for external partners, the media and the wider public. In 2015, the Mission consolidated its structures while expanding the overall number of monitors and increasing its footprint in eastern Ukraine. With this Mission, for the first time the OSCE began using advanced technical means such as unmanned aerial vehicles, sophisticated cameras and satellite-based information. The Secretariat continued to provide significant ongoing support to the Mission. Our 17 field operations are uniquely placed to assist participating States with the implementation of their OSCE commitments and they remain a cornerstone of our programmatic activities. Increasingly, they have become an important tool to support the implementation of agreed OSCE policies across the three dimensions and to promote regional co-operation. 2 OSCE ANNUAL REPORT 2015 OSCE engagement in the negotiation formats dedicated to the protracted conflicts continued in 2015. Despite limited progress, there is no alternative but to continue our efforts to push for lasting settlements. We owe it to the people who continue to suffer from the consequences of these conflicts. In July, high-level representatives of the participating States and Partners for Co-operation gathered in Finlandia Hall, where the Helsinki Final Act was signed 40 years earlier. The frank debate on the current crisis in European security held in various formats throughout the year clearly demonstrated how difficult it has become to engage in constructive and forward-looking dialogue. Due to the prevailing circumstances, the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act could not be the hoped-for catalyst for revitalizing the role of the OSCE. As the three-year Helsinki +40 Process drew to a close, there was a clear need to continue a broad-based and open-ended informal dialogue on critical aspects of security in the OSCE region. Even as trust and confidence among OSCE participating States have continued to erode, worrying trends in regional and global security have been growing. As a result, transnational threats such as terrorism, organized crime and trafficking in arms, drugs and human beings, as well as the global challenge of climate change, are gaining prominence on the OSCE agenda. In 2015, Europe was also dramatically affected by large-scale migration movements, with serious repercussions along transit routes and in recipient countries. To help address these complex and often interconnected challenges, we need to identify and capitalize on the added value that the OSCE can bring to global and regional solutions. In 2015, we also witnessed a series of deadly terrorist attacks in the OSCE area and adjacent regions. In response, participating States at the Ministerial Council in Belgrade vowed to strengthen their efforts to counter terrorism and to co-operate more closely on preventing and countering violent extremism. This was a key theme throughout the year and also one that I personally endeavoured to take forward, including through the informal and multi-stakeholder format provided by OSCE Security Days. In May, I convened a Security Days event devoted to exploring the root causes of violent extremism and possible countermeasures to radicalization involving the media, education, inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue, and the empowerment of women and youth. This built on discussions at a Security Days event on challenges to Euro-Atlantic Security, held in March in Washington, DC, which featured a session on radicalization that leads to terrorism. Together with the Serbian Chairmanship, I also launched a social media campaign under the slogan “OSCE United in Countering Violent Extremism”, which has attracted significant interest. The 70th anniversaries of the end of World War II and the United Nations (UN) Charter offered a number of opportunities to reflect on global challenges. As a regional arrangement under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter, the OSCE continued to expand our partnerships with the UN and other international and regional organizations in many areas: from mediation, dialogue facilitation and protection of national minorities, to capacity-building activities, election observation and humanitarian assistance. At the UN Secretary-General’s high-level retreat for heads of regional organizations in May, I shared lessons learned from the OSCE experience in responding to the crisis in and around Ukraine. OSCE ANNUAL REPORT 2015 3 Message From the Secretary General More broadly, we need to think harder about creating synergies between the global agenda and that of the OSCE. In September, I addressed the Sustainable Development Summit to communicate how the OSCE is already working to promote sustainable development as a cornerstone of security. I also organized an OSCE Security Days event on climate change and security in the run-up to the COP 21 Climate Change Summit, and linked another Security Days event to the 15th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on women, peace and security. The OSCE’s privileged relationship with our Mediterranean and Asian Partners for Co-operation continued to offer a valuable platform for exploring ways to adapt to the changing international security context. Our strengthened engagement with civil society and academia has also offered fruitful exchanges of expertise and ideas on how best to approach critical issues on our agenda. In this respect, the OSCE Academic Network of think tanks and research institutions and the New-Med Network, as well as the OSCE Troika-mandated Panel of Eminent Persons on European Security as a Common Project, contributed valuable ideas and recommendations that can be taken up in future discussions. In closing, I commend the Serbian OSCE Chairmanship for its commitment to providing opportunities for dialogue among the participating States and for successfully steering us through another challenging year. I am confident that the Organization will continue to enjoy strong support under the German Chairmanship in 2016. I would also like to thank the staff of the OSCE Secretariat, institutions and field operations, whose enduring commitment and professionalism continue to serve our Organization so well. Lamberto Zannier OSCE Secretary General Vienna, 2015 4 OSCE ANNUAL REPORT 2015 OSCE ANNUAL REPORT 2015 5 REPORT OF THE CHAIRMANSHIP- IN-OFFICE The Chairmanship is selected by the Ministerial Council, and the post of the Chairperson-in-Office is held by the foreign minister of the selected participating State for a one-year term. 6 OSCE ANNUAL REPORT 2015 Serbia: Bridging Differences, Building Trust www.osce.org/cio WORKING TOGETHER TO CONSOLIDATE PEACE, PROSPERITY AND DEMOCRACY The Republic of Serbia assumed the OSCE Chairmanship in one of the most challenging moments for European security and stability in the past several decades. An atmosphere of mutual distrust, antagonism and competing narratives had been generated mostly by the crisis in and around Ukraine. Serbia’s Chairmanship started around the time of a major terrorist attack in Paris and the escalation of the conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine, and it ended against the backdrop of the most severe refugee and migration crisis since World War II. The Chairmanship, in co-operation with other participating States and the relevant OSCE executive structures, invested large efforts in order to define the Organization’s response to these serious threats. Strengthening the OSCE’s engagement on these issues with other international actors, in particular with its Mediterranean and Asian Partners for Co-operation, is vital to addressing these complex and often interconnected threats that affect all our participating States. “There can be no compromise on the applicability of the fundamental principles and commitments that provide the foundation for co-operative security in the OSCE area.