News from Osce

- OSCE book on police and Roma and Sinti to be launched on margins of annual police experts meeting

VIENNA, 19 May - A book featuring good practices in building trust and understanding between police and Roma and Sinti communities, created by the OSCE Strategic Police Matters Unit and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) will be launched on Friday at the margins of an OSCE police experts meeting in Vienna.

The relation between the police and Roma and Sinti communities is crucial in many ways. Roma and Sinti are often targets of racially motivated discrimination and violence. They need to be able to fully rely on the police for protection against - and the full investigation of - hate-motivated crimes. At the same time, the police face the challenge of effectively policing Roma and Sinti communities that often view such efforts with suspicion and mistrust, fed by a long history of abuse and discrimination at the hands of various state authorities.

The OSCE recognizes the importance of good relations between the police and Roma and Sinti communities to combat discrimination and racial violence, and to ensure that Roma and Sinti are able to play an equal part in society. OSCE participating States’ have committed themselves to work on closing the gap between existing national practices and international standards.

The book will be presented by Kevin Carty, Senior Police Adviser to the OSCE Secretary General, and Andrzej Mirga, ODIHR’s Senior Advisor on Roma and Sinti Issues. Roma police officers from Hungary and the United Kingdom will share their first-hand experiences in preventing and combating discrimination and racially motivated violence against Roma and Sinti.

Journalists are invited to the presentation of the book, set to start at 13:00 on Friday, 21 May, in the Hofburg Congress Centre, Room 525.

For admittance to the Hofburg Congress Centre, please bring your OSCE press badge or a valid press card to the security desk (main entrance from the Heldenplatz). Parking is available for the press during the event in the OSCE-reserved parking area on Heldenplatz. Temporary parking permits must be collected from the security desk.

Direct link to the press release

- Transportation to be in focus at OSCE meeting in Prague

VIENNA, 20 May 2010 - Border crossings and land transportation in the OSCE region will be the focus of the 18th OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum, which will start Monday in Prague.

Policymakers and experts will discuss the OSCE’s role in promoting good governance, improving security and facilitating international transport by road and rail in the OSCE area during the three-day meeting.

More than 300 participants, including Abelgazy Kusainov, Kazakhstan’s Transport and Communications Minister; Ambassador Kairat Abdrakhmanov, the Chairperson of the OSCE Permanent Council; Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Galuska; OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, and Goran Svilanovic, the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, will take part in the meeting.

Two UN Under-Secretary-Generals also will participate: Jan Kubis, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, and Cheick Sidi Diarra, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

The Forum theme stems from the importance of transport for economic growth and the consolidation of regional stability. The meeting’s agenda includes sessions on efficient and secure transit between Asia and Europe, barriers to trade and transport; as well as how to harmonize procedures and introduce new technologies along major transportation routes.

The Prague meeting, the final part of the Forum process, was preceded by two preparatory conferences - held in October 2009 in Astana and in March 2010 in Minsk - and the first part of the Forum, which took place in February in Vienna.

Journalists are invited to attend the opening session from 14.30 on Monday, 24 May, at the Czernin Palace, Loretanske nam. 5, Prague. For more information, including an agenda, please see the conference website: http://www.osce.org/conferences/18_eef_part2.html

Journalists interested in interviewing speakers are encouraged to contact OSCE Economic and Environmental Adviser Gabriel Leonte, gabriel.leonte@osce.org, +43 664 9209294 or Economic Officer Ruslan Urazalin, ruslan.urazalin@osce.org, +43 664 88474860.

Direct link to the press release

- Co-operation crucial for security, French Minister of State for European Affairs tells OSCE

VIENNA, 20 May 2010 - The OSCE remains an important tool for security, particularly considering the increased globalization of modern threats, the French Minister of State for European Affairs, Pierre Lellouche, told the OSCE Permanent Council today.

Lellouche said political co-operation on the European level developed from and together with the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the forerunner to the OSCE. "The EU’s foreign policy today recognizes how important the OSCE is to further its objectives. This is precisely why France and Germany are considering the possibility of a joint OSCE Chairmanship," he added.

European history was influenced by a movement toward democracy and unity, Lellouche said, mentioning the reconciliation with Germany and reconstruction of Europe after World War II, the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and the 1990 Charter of Paris for a New Europe as important milestones.

"Through these steps, our security is not only ensured by each state’s defence policy or through alliances and organizations in our common space," he said. "It is also guaranteed by a framework of co-operation in the whole Euro-Atlantic and Euro-Asian region that includes not only politico-military but also human and economic aspects as well as respect for legitimate interests and concerns, for the free choice of alliances for all and a commitment to the indivisibility of security in Europe."

Lellouche commended the Corfu Process - the OSCE-anchored dialogue on the future of European security - and said that France supported the initiative by the Kazakh OSCE Chairmanship to hold an OSCE summit at the end of the year. A consensus decision by the 56 participating States is required for a summit to be held.

"We will be able to move forward only if we have the goal of launching a new phase in the history of our countries, leading towards renewed, common Euro-Atlantic and Euro-Asian security in the 21st century," he said. "This community should build on the achievements of the commitments and principles that unite us, particularly those of the Helsinki Final Act and the Paris Charter. It is clear that the page of the Cold War needs to be turned forever."

Discussing security in Georgia, Lellouche reaffirmed France’s support to territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country and supported the Geneva discussions. He said it was essential that the OSCE open a field operation in the country. Due to a lack of consensus to renew its mandate, the OSCE Mission to Georgia closed in June 2009.

He also said that France, which co-chairs the Minsk Group, supported Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders’ efforts to take steps to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and emphasized that political negotiations were the only means to achieve a solution.

"The recent crisis in Kyrgyzstan reminded us that the OSCE is able to react promptly and effectively to crises. Although the work of its institutions and field operations is often discreet, it has a real impact on consolidating our common space," he said.

The Permanent Council is one of the OSCE’s main decision-making bodies. It meets weekly in Vienna to discuss developments in the OSCE area and to make appropriate decisions.

Direct link to the press release