The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) meets today in Vienna. The organization was founded during the Cold War to diplomatically resolve conflicts between European countries, but Ukraine boycotted the meeting due to Russian participation. “The diplomatic function of the OSCE will then more or less disappear,” says defense specialist Dick Zandee of the Clingendael Institute.
Zandee defines “a missed opportunity” that the two parties in dispute are absent from the meeting. ‘In reality, the intention is always to continue talking to each other, but in a war situation that mechanism no longer works. It only works when countries have normal diplomatic relations.”
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Like the United Nations Security Council, war-torn diplomatic relations have effectively paralyzed the OSCE. However, according to Zandee, both organizations can still do enough in other areas. ‘The OSCE always monitors elections when they happen, and the UN naturally has an incredible number of humanitarian programs, which continue as usual. But when it comes to security, everything has stopped.’
While they are not functioning as planned for now, Zandee believes it is important that organizations such as the OSCE continue to exist. ‘Organisations like this have experienced crises like this before. Abolition is also not an option, because organizations generally have the rule that once they are created, they will continue to exist forever. So it’s just a matter of waiting and waiting for the international situation to change again.”
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
