Annual Report 2020 An SMM patrol on the road near Bohdanivka, inside the Disengagement Area near Petrivske, Donetsk region (OSCE/Germain Groll) 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. FOLLOW US ON facebook.com/osce.org twitter.com/OSCE youtube.com/user/osce linkedin.com/company/osce instagram.com/osceorg Published by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Communications and Media Relations Section Office of the Secretary General OSCE Secretariat Wallnerstrasse 6 1010 Vienna Austria www.osce.org ©OSCE 2021 The OSCE Annual Report on OSCE activities and achievements is prepared and submitted by the OSCE Secretary General. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of all OSCE participating States. All rights reserved. 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ISBN 978-3-903128-77-4 Editor: Sandra Sacchetti Infographics: Fanny Arnold Layout: Imprimerie Centrale S.A Front cover photo credit: Germain Groll Printed in Luxembourg by Imprimerie Centrale Table of contents MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY GENERAL 5 FIELD OPERATIONS 59 Presence in Albania 61 Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina 63 Mission in Kosovo 65 CHAIRMANSHIP 6 Mission to Montenegro 67 Overcoming Adversity 7 Mission to Serbia 69 Mission to Skopje 71 Mission to Moldova 73 Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine 75 PERMANENT COUNCIL 21 Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine 79 Observer Mission at the Russian Checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk 81 Centre in Ashgabat 83 FORUM FOR SECURITY Programme Office in Bishkek 85 CO-OPERATION 25 Programme Office in Dushanbe 87 Programme Office in Nur-Sultan 89 Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan 91 OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY 28 LEVERAGING PARTNERSHIPS 93 Asian and Mediterranean Partners for SECRETARIAT 31 Co-operation 94 Office of the Secretary General and Central Services 33 Co-operation with international and Conflict prevention 35 regional organizations 96 Transnational threats 39 Economic and environmental activities 43 Combating trafficking in human beings 47 Gender equality 49 ANNEXES 100 List of abbreviations 100 OSCE staff at a glance 101 Staff 102 INSTITUTIONS 51 2020 OSCE Unified Budget 104 Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights 52 Contributions by participating States 105 High Commissioner on National Minorities 55 Extrabudgetary pledges and voluntary contributions 106 Representative on Freedom of the Media 57 Extrabudgetary expenditure 107 3 OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid, Vienna, 3 March 2021. (OSCE/Renaud Cuny) Message from the Secretary General The year 2020 was enormously challenging for the OSCE We have every reason to be ambitious, and to work and the wider international community. together toward concrete outcomes that will strengthen security for us all. Just a year ago, few would have predicted the serious impact that COVID-19 would have on global health and the livelihood of millions of people. It has intensified inequalities, fed distrust, and made our already difficult security environment more unstable and unpredictable. OSCE activities and our efforts to prevent and manage conflict have also been affected by the pandemic, but as numerous examples in this report show, our Organization Helga Maria Schmid has been able to continue fulfilling its mandates while OSCE Secretary General ensuring duty of care to our staff. Even in lockdown Vienna, 2021 phases, OSCE decision-making bodies continued meeting and our field operations and Institutions continued to support our participating States, including in crisis settings where the OSCE plays a critical role. The OSCE’s adaptability and flexibility in the face of COVID-19 are the shared achievement of OSCE staff across our Organization. I thank them for their exceptional commitment. I also wish to thank the 2020 Albanian OSCE Chairmanship for ably steering our Organization through an extraordinarily challenging year, and to recognize the professional leadership of my predecessor, Secretary General Thomas Greminger, and Ambassador Tuula Yrjölä as Officer in Charge during a very difficult period. Since taking up my post, I have been deeply impressed by how much good work the OSCE does every day. I will do my utmost to promote OSCE principles and commitments, all dimensions of our comprehensive approach to security, and problem-solving through dialogue and co-operation. I will work hard to build support for the OSCE’s important role in strengthening security and stability in our region, develop more coherent cross-dimensional responses to overcome increasingly complex security challenges and raise the OSCE’s profile. I will promote closer co-operation with our Asian and Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation, and with the United Nations and other key international and regional organizations. I will strive to ensure that the OSCE makes further progress towards greater diversity and equal representation between men and women across all levels of the Organization. I will also ensure that the OSCE maintains its vibrant engagement with civil society and with young people. I am immensely proud to work for the OSCE. There is no other security organization in our region with so much potential to bridge differences, to rebuild trust, and to help reduce tensions. 5 CHAIRMANSHIP The OSCE Chairmanship is selected by the OSCE Ministerial Council for a one-year term. The post of Chairperson-in-Office is held by the foreign minister of the selected participating State. Tirana, capital of Albania and host city of the 27th OSCE Ministerial Council. (Teresa Otto/Shutterstock) Overcoming Adversity Chairperson-in-Office:Edi Rama www.osce.org/chairmanship The Albanian Chairmanship year was momentous for the OSCE in many respects. The year 2020 marked the 45th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act and the 30th anniversary of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, but it was also characterized by a series of new and unprecedented challenges. Albania opened the year by noting that, as a small But 2020 will be best remembered for other unpredicted state that has undergone a major transition, it had developments, including the surge of the COVID-19 drawn outsized strength and stability from being part pandemic, which posed new tests for our governments, of this values-based security community. Through the communities and the work of the Organization, Chairmanship, it sought to give back to the Organization. including the mid-year leadership vacuum in the OSCE The programme set by the Albanian OSCE 2020 executive structures, the situation in Belarus following Chairmanship was based on three key objectives: the presidential election and the outburst of heavy fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh context. These events Making a difference on the ground; placed new pressures on the daily work of the OSCE Implementing our commitments together; throughout 2020, which the Chairmanship endeavoured Building stability through dialogue. to overcome. The Chairmanship prioritized key issues that the OSCE In the face of this adversity, the Albanian Chairmanship community continues to face: be it military confrontation, the effectively delivered a suite of new deliverables, maintained malign use of information and communication technology, the OSCE’s operational activities amid the disruption respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, violent caused by COVID-19 and appointed new management for extremism and radicalization, gender equality or the blurred the Organization. line between state and non-state activity. OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and OSCE SMM’s Chief Monitor Yaşar Halit Çevik in Stanytsia Luhanska, 21 January 2020. (OSCE/Evgeniy Maloletka) CHAIRMANSHIP 7 MAKING A DIFFERENCE ON THE GROUND The Chairmanship also prioritized conflict-affected The OSCE has proven its ability to make a difference populations in Georgia. Through its Special Representative on the ground, be it through engaging in all levels of the for the South Caucasus, it facilitated the resumption of the conflict cycle, observing elections or supporting reforms. Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) in The Albanian Chairmanship aimed to promote the work of Ergneti and convened two meetings, while it was possible the OSCE where it is closest to the people. to hold only one in-person round of talks in the format of the Geneva International Discussions (GID) in December The Chairmanship upheld its priority of supporting conflict with the aim to address the security, humanitarian and resolution efforts with respect to Ukraine. The timely human rights challenges on the ground in full compliance extension of the mandate and adoption of the Special with the 12 August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement. It used Monitoring Mission (SMM) budget in March, the first its good offices to facilitate communication across the major negotiation accomplished by the Chairmanship, divide concerning the challenge posed by the COVID-19 led to a landmark 8 per cent budget increase. By forging pandemic, as well as the efficient use of water through consensus around a solid budget for the OSCE’s flagship a shared canal, benefitting communities on both sides. operation, especially amid the pandemic, Albania held Promoting