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Порталус

OSCE PERFORMS FUNCTIONS OF CRISIS MANAGEMENT BY PEACEFUL MEANS

Дата публикации: 09 июня 2016
Публикатор: Научная библиотека Порталус
Рубрика: АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК
Источник: (c) Беларусь в мире, 01-01-99
Номер публикации: №1465464596



Dr. Hans-Georg Wieck Ambassador, Head of the Advisory and Monitoring Group In Belarus
Mr. Chairman,

I am grateful for the opportunity given to me to present comments at this very interesting forum "Union of Belarus and Russia". I think this is one of the first, if not the very first symposium of this type conducted in Minsk. I would like to wish that you hold such meetings more frequently and on a more regular basis with participation of the interested representatives of the diplomatic corps and of public organisations of Belarus since we receive the basic information on the Union from official sources only whilst here, at this forum, we will be able to hear more specific opinions of Belarusian and Russian experts on this issue.

It is noteworthy that the first forum was attended by the known founder of the concept for a European home and the reformer of the contemporary Russia who voiced his opinion on a number of issues. My role in this country and at this forum is very limited, but the presentations have often referred to the "OSCE and the today?s crisis on the Balkans" as well as to "the role of the OSCE in Belarus". The essence of the divergence that became apparent yesterday during the exchange of opinions with Mr. Gorbachev was that he appeared to be concerned about a potential or actual influence of the OSCE on the integration process of Belarus with Russia. There is no such intention, let me say, however. Today, just as yesterday, Mr. Gorbachev had all the good reasons to mention the Paris Agreement of November 1990 and the role of nuclear arms reduction in overcoming the problems of the Cold War. I made reference to the Copenhagen Agreement adopted in June 1990, which was also signed by the leaders of the Soviet Union. The Copenhagen Document was adopted as the program of democratisation, establishment of human rights and observance of European statutes and commitments by all member-countries. On the background of the democratisation program of the OSCE, which is reflected in the admittance of countries from Eastern and Central Europe to the Council of Europe the Permanent Council of the OSCE established on September 1997 with consent of the Belarusian Government an "Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus". The Group, supported by experts from many countries is mandated to advise the country - government and opposition - in the development of democratic institutions and to monitor the compliance of the country with its OSCE commitments. Unfortunately, I was apparently unable to convince Mr. Gorbachev in the course of our discussion of the significance of this work for the transformation in Belarus. But I felt that the participants of this forum understand quite well the need for the transformation towards pluralistic democratic societies in the period following the end of Cold War.

Let me stress the importance of gatherings like this one for the development of dialogue on the international as well as the national stage. The initiation of programs in support of genuinely democratic processes is not guided by any hostile intent. On the contrary - such processes encourage the development of social structures more germane with the nature and the talents of the human being as a social individual than any collective system. It was precisely this what I wanted to explain here and I would be happy if I had another opportunity to meet Mr. Gorbachev once again and explain to him what we are here for.

Regarding the role of OSCE in the current crisis in Kosovo and in Yugoslavia as a whole, I would like to remind the audience of the fact that at one time - because of the requirement of unanimous decisions rather than the present rule of "consensus minus one" - the crisis management efforts of the OSCE (then CSCE) Council in their Prague meetings in 1992 were not crowned by success due to the veto by Yugoslavia. The new structure of the OSCE led to the reform of the organisation on the basis of the newly adopted rule for decisions, namely "consensus by all minus one". In 1992 in Hel-sinki, the OSCE was recognised as a "Regional Organisation in conformity with Chapter VIII of the UN Charter". OSCE thus performs functions of crisis management by peaceful means for the settlement of a conflict situation, and for a post-conflict rehabilitation. In conformity with the Copenhagen document of 1990 also other programs are initiated in support of democratisation and observance of human rights. In Yugoslavia we are facing military and police forces of Yugoslavia, which are undertaking in Kosovo a brutal ethnic cleansing. This was even done in the presence of OSCE observers in the field. Yugoslavia continues to deprive the Albanian population of Kosovo of their rights thereby violating the agreement concluded by the Contact Group with Yugoslavia last year.

I think that the solution of the Kosovo conflict on the basis of the proposals of the Contact Group including Russia is very important as a precondition for the consolidation of peaceful co-operation on the Balkans. In spite of conti-nued military hostilities I hold personally but also as a defendant of OSCE-principles the view that peacemaking, peace-mediating forces are actively working now on the solution of this problem by peaceful means. I am optimistic in this respect.

Опубликовано на Порталусе 09 июня 2016 года

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