{"id":54933,"date":"2022-12-01T09:32:25","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T17:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=54933"},"modified":"2022-12-01T09:32:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T17:32:25","slug":"the-u-s-mission-to-the-organization-for-security-and-cooperation-in-europe-osce-advancing-security-prosperity-and-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=54933","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE): Advancing Security, Prosperity, and Human Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>2\/01\/2022 11:37 AM EST<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Office of the Spokesperson<\/p>\n<p>The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is the world\u2019s largest regional security organization with 57 participating States from Europe and Eurasia as well as Canada and the United States.\u202f Through political dialogue about shared values and practical work on the ground that aims to make a lasting difference, the OSCE promotes peace, prosperity, and democracy for more than a billion people.\u202f Built on the foundation of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the OSCE takes a comprehensive approach to security, encompassing political-military issues, economic and environmental concerns, and human rights and democratic development.<\/p>\n<p>Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and the Kremlin\u2019s blatant disregard for its OSCE commitments have shattered the region\u2019s collective security and violated every single one of the Helsinki Final Act\u2019s guiding principles.\u202f Despite offering Russia an opportunity to hold an enhanced European security dialogue, Russia has turned its back on the organization.\u202f The United States, in close coordination with other participating States, has focused its efforts since February 24 on holding Russia to account. \u00a0On November 1, the OSCE also launched a new Support Programme for Ukraine with $2 million in initial U.S. funding, to address some of the immediate challenges to civilians posed by Russia\u2019s war and to support the long-term democratic and social resilience of Ukrainian institutions and civil society organizations.<\/p>\n<p><b>Political-Military Dimension<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Although Russia\u2019s war of aggression against Ukraine has put a tremendous strain on international arms control regimes, the United States continues to work with like-minded participating States to maintain the existing arms control arrangements and works to promote regional confidence building measures in areas like cyber, countering terrorism, and countering violent extremism.<\/li>\n<li>The OSCE\u2019s work to combat other transnational security threats continues to be critical in the context of Russia\u2019s war.\u202f The OSCE presence in the Western Balkans, Moldova, and Central Asia \u2014 including field missions, the Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe, the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, and various extra-budgetary projects \u2014 strengthens countries\u2019 internal capacities while also providing a platform for cooperation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Economic and Environmental Dimension<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The OSCE\u2019s Second Dimension encompasses economic and environmental issues as an integral element of comprehensive security.\u202f The United States supports the OSCE\u2019s work to combat corruption and promote good governance, energy security, and environmental protection, expand consideration of climate-related security risks, and promote women\u2019s economic empowerment.<\/li>\n<li>The United States supports projects under the Office of the Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) to build the capacity of participating States to identify climate-security hotspots, combat corruption, and protect energy networks from natural and man-made disasters.\u202f In many cases, environmental and economic projects incorporate support for reconciliation and cross-border cooperation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Human Dimension<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Since its inception, the OSCE has played a pivotal role in holding states accountable for their human rights commitments and pledges to uphold democratic norms.\u202f Most recently, we have used various OSCE tools to hold Russia to account for war crimes and other abuses of human rights. The United States joined 44 other countries in invoking the \u201cMoscow Mechanism\u201d to document Russia\u2019s war crimes, possible crimes against humanity, and egregious abuses of human rights and to contribute to accountability efforts.\u202f The Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has also been monitoring and documenting abuses committed by Russia in Ukraine, including as part of its so-called \u201cfiltration\u201d operations.<\/li>\n<li>Despite Russia\u2019s obstructionism, the United States supported the Polish Chair\u2019s decision to hold a Warsaw Human Dimension Conference in September 2022.\u202f The conference was attended by over 1100 participants, and provided an opportunity for government officials, international experts, civil society representatives and human rights activists to take stock of how states are implementing their OSCE commitments in the human dimension.\u202f The OSCE is also deeply engaged in regional projects to combat trafficking in persons, particularly among Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced persons, and to support marginalized populations.\u202f The Chair-in-Office\u2019s, three personal representatives on Tolerance and Non- Discrimination, Rabbi Andrew Baker, Dr. Regina Polak, and Ambassador Dr. Ismail Hakki Musa, also help promote tolerance and respect for diversity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The Parliamentary Assembly, Independent Institutions, and Field Missions<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The work of the OSCE is complimented by the work of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA).\u202f Comprised of 323 members from across the region, the OSCE PA seeks to advance the region\u2019s comprehensive security including through parliamentary diplomacy, drafting thematic reports, issuing joint declarations, the work of Special Representatives, and observing elections.<\/li>\n<li>The United States strongly supports the work of the three independent OSCE institutions \u2013 the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM), and the High Commissioner on National\u202fMinorities (HCNM). We also support the work of the OSCE Special Representatives who work on fighting corruption, combating trafficking in persons, fostering gender equality, and promoting respect for the human rights of Roma and Sinti.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Finally, the OSCE\u2019s 13 field missions help host countries put their OSCE commitments into practice and foster local capacities.\u202f These include initiatives to support law enforcement, minority rights, legislative reform, the rule of law and media freedom, promotion of tolerance and non-discrimination, and combat corruption and trafficking-in-persons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2\/01\/2022 11:37 AM EST Office of&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54934,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54933\/revisions\/54934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}