The 23rd Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly entitled “Helsinki +40: Towards Human Security for All” has ended in Baku.
Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Montenegro, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Ranko Krivokapic gave an insight into the agenda of the session.
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has adopted the Baku Declaration, lending political support to wide-ranging policy recommendations for the OSCE and its 57 participating States in the fields of political affairs and security, economics, the environment and human rights.
The Declaration was adopted after 97 parliamentarians voted in favour and 1 against at the conclusion of the 2014 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Annual Session in the Azerbaijani capital.
In its 140 clauses, the Baku Declaration encompasses the resolutions of the PA’s three General Committees - the Committee on Political Affairs and Security; the Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment; and the Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions.
The Declaration also advocates enhanced confidence-building measures in the military sphere, democratic control of countries' armed forces and a comprehensive assessment of cyber threats.
In the sphere of environmental issues and economics, the Declaration calls for sustained work towards a new universal climate agreement, regulations to limit the risk of financial crashes, and steps to ensure the economic empowerment and property rights of women.
It also “encourages the OSCE and its participating States to work on migration management to increase the benefits of migration while reducing its potential negative implications.”
The Declaration further focuses on the particular vulnerability of mountainous regions to climate change and natural disasters and supports initiatives to improve the efficiency of food production and water management.
The Declaration also offers a diverse set of recommendations and pronouncements in the democracy and human rights sphere - from “deploring” hate crimes against migrant workers to calling for a redoubled fight against anti-Semitism to raising the cases of specific individuals in the OSCE region.
It further “endorses the adoption by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of a resolution confirming the definition of ‘political prisoners.’”
It also calls upon Ukrainian authorities to fully investigate all recent fatalities during the crisis in the country.
Several supplementary items were adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly as an annex to the Baku Declaration.
They include resolutions on the prevention and prosecution of child sex-trafficking, food security and limited water resources in the OSCE area and other items.
Following the adoption of the Baku declaration, former Foreign Minister of Finland, ex-Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE Ilkka Kanerva was elected President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly due to the results of the voting.
“It is my wish and personal ambition to recall the spirit of Helsinki,” said Kanerva, referring to the OSCE’s founding document, the Helsinki Final Act of 1975.
“And above all, it is our responsibility to turn words into concrete action,” he added, urging parliamentarians to redouble their efforts toward fostering comprehensive human security ahead of the 40th anniversary of the Final Act next year.
Mr. Kanerva, who also currently heads Finland’s Delegations to both the OSCE and NATO Parliamentary Assemblies, is longest standing member of his national Parliament. He has served as a Vice-President of the OSCE PA since 2013.
Kanerva is also a co-leader of the OSCE PA’s Helsinki +40 project, an initiative designed to evaluate the OSCE’s past and chart concrete lines of action for the future. The project will consist of seminars at top think-tanks in Russia, the United States and Europe before culminating in a final colloquium in the Finnish capital on the sidelines of the OSCE PA’s 2015 Annual Session.
In his acceptance address, Kanerva also urged OSCE parliamentarians to maximize the capacity of dialogue in addressing a rapidly changing security environment.
He pledged to push for increased transparency in the OSCE and to better include all Delegations in the work of the Assembly, in particular smaller participating States.
Kanerva thanked his predecessor, Ranko Krivokapic of Montenegro, for his hard work and devotion to the Assembly.
He will serve for a term of one year, with the possibility of re-election to a second term.
Three open OSCE PA Vice-President posts were also filled during the Annual Session. Kent Harstedt, the Deputy Head of Sweden’s Delegation to the OSCE PA, and Christine Muttonen, the Deputy Head of Austria’s Delegation to the OSCE PA, were both elected. Emin Onen, the Head of Turkey’s Delegation to the OSCE PA, was re-elected Vice-President.
OSCE PA Vice-Presidents whose terms did not expire this year continue their work.
The leadership of the OSCE PA’s three General Committees was also chosen in Baku.
Asa Lindestam (MP, Sweden) was elected Chair of the Committee on Political Affairs and Security, while Azay Guliyev (MP, Azerbaijan) and Pia Kauma (MP, Finland) were reappointed Vice-Chair and Rapporteur, respectively.
Roza Aknazarova (MP, Kyrgyzstan) and Nilza Sena (MP, Portugal) retained their respective posts as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment, while Marietta Tidei (MP, Italy) was chosen Rapporteur.