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.”
Follow the latest news about the war in Ukraine in our live blog
Lamb wing
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.”