Introduction During the last five years, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo (OMIK) has supported the establishment and professional development of the Assembly of Kosovo. Coordination and cooperation with all projects and donors working with the Assembly of Kosovo has been one of its main priorities. This article focuses on parliamentary donor coordination, and provides a reflection on the role of the Assembly during the transition period before the resolution of the future status of Kosovo.
Public broadcasting is under the spotlight in the south Caucasus. To meet a commitment to develop genuine public service broadcasting as one of the conditions for joining the Council of Europe, the government of Azerbaijan decided on the bold experiment of introducing a brand new public service broadcaster, the Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, or ITV for short. ITV has provided the public with an alternative to the existing state and commercial broadcasters. But how well has it succeeded? Following criticism from international and local observers that ITV was too close to the Government and not sufficiently independent, the OSCE commissioned an outside review of ITV's operations and programming. The OSCE has been at the forefront of civil society efforts to ensure that ITV meets the Council of Europe's requirements and fulfils its public service mandate. The independent review was carried out by the BBC World Service Trust which concluded that the criticisms were justified in some respects, and ITV's journalism in particular needed to be more robust and editorially balanced. But they also found much to praise about the new broadcaster. This article looks at their findings and what will happen next.
In December 2006, the Venice Commission adopted the 'Report on Non-citizens and Minority Rights'. This report analyzes comprehensively the international and European standards and practice, in the light of national examples and bilateral agreements, as regards the relevance of citizenship and other criteria for circumscribing the circle of those entitled to minority rights. The pragmatic and practice-oriented approach of the analysis resulted in conclusions recommending that the attention be shifted from the definition issue to the need for an unimpeded exercise of minority rights in practice, as citizenship should not be regarded as an element of the definition of 'minority', but as a condition of access to certain minority rights. In this sense, States should devote particular attention to the need for them to regularize, without undue delay, the situation of those who have lost their citizenship, since the slow and difficult allocation of citizenship following the formation or consolidation of new entities may have an adverse impact on persons belonging to minorities. This will help promote a fuller integration of those non-citizens who form part of a minority group. The Commission also encourages those States which have neither adopted constitutional provisions nor entered a formal declaration under the FCNM restricting the scope of minority protection to their citizens only, to abstain from introducing a citizenship requirement in a domestic definition and/or in a declaration, as well as to consider, where necessary, the possibility of extending, on an article-by-article basis, the scope of protection to non-citizens. The States which have adopted such restrictive constitutional provisions and/or entered a formal declaration are encouraged to consider, where necessary, the possibility of extending, on an article-by-article basis, the scope of protection to non-citizens. In the Commission's view, States should make judicious and possibly combined use of those objective criteria for circumscribing the personal scope of application of minority protection which appear most suited to the context, such as lawful and effective residence, numerical size, the time factor coupled with a certain link with a territory and, only if required from the constitutional viewpoint, citizenship.
Taking the present debate on Kosovo as a starting point, the author describes the application of the principle of self-determination in the past and in particular in the OSCE area, and its relation to the even more important principle of territorial integrity. While acknowledging the importance of autonomy as a form of self-determination, the author concentrates on its application as a right to secession. As a principle it was given pre-eminence when introduced by the American President Wilson in 1918 and it played an important role at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 – though only in so far as it suited the victors. After the Second World War it became almost exclusively linked to decolonisation and it took some effort to have it accepted as a principle in the Final Act. Its meaning had by then changed, in the CSCE context, to the freedom of a people within a state to determine their own political and economic situation, as a clear refutation of the Brezhnev Doctrine. It certainly did not imply the right to secession. Although the best example of self-determination in Europe has probably been the German unification of 1990, about fifteen years later the principle was also applied in the Balkans and in the Soviet Union to justify the break up of existing states. Once this had happened, however, the principle of territorial integrity took over and the borders of the new states in their turn became inviolable. The dispute over the status of Kosovo is again an example of the inherent tension between the principles of self-determination and territorial integrity.
"Between contribution and disengagement: Post-conflict elections and the OSCE role in the normalization of armed groups and militarized political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tajikistan, and Kosovo" published on 01 Jan 2007 by Brill | Nijhoff.
This article will examine the role of the OSCE Chairmanship and discuss the Republic of Kazakhstan's bid for its leadership in 2009. The Chairmanship is a prestigious position which heads the largest regional security body in the world. Even in today's post-Cold War reality, the OSCE remains an important organization and has developed a body of sophisticated human rights and democratization commitments politically binding all 56 participating States. Countries serving as the Chairman-in-Office are empowered to guide the Organization in a variety of enduring ways that will outlive their one-year leadership. The Chairman-in-Office is also expected to lead by example — perfection is not required, but a demonstrated commitment to fulfill OSCE obligations domestically has traditionally been an important prerequisite. The article will highlight the lasting impression which a Chairmanship can make, consider the prospect of a Kazakh Chairmanship and review Kazakhstan's rights record and attitude towards the Organization.
Since 2003, the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (OSCE PA) has constantly emphasised the importance of reconciling democratic values, respect for human rights and the fight against terrorism.In the light of the growing interest of the members of the OSCE PA in the controversial case of Guantanamo and of their desire for a parliamentary delegation to be permitted to visit the site, the former President of the OSCE PA , Congressman Alcee Hastings, decided to appoint a Special representative on Guantanamo. He entrusted this mandate to Anne-Marie Lizin, President of the Belgian Senate.Since then, she has conducted a thorough examination of the question, particularly after her visit to Guantanamo Bay in March 2006, and the substance thereof and the recommendations she made in her first two reports are contained in this article.Anne-Marie Lizin proposed the creation of an international commission of experts tasked with continuing to reflect on a possible development of international law with regard to the general question of 'new categories of combatants' and of the recent development of terrorism. She will present a third report on Guantanamo during the annual summer session of the OSCE PA in Kiev in July 2007.
