|
OSCE
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, promotion of human rights, freedom of the press, and free and fair elections. It employs around 3,460 people, mostly in its field operations but also in its secretariat in Vienna, Austria, and its institutions. It has its origins in the mid-1975 Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland. The OSCE is concerned with early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management, and post-conflict rehabilitation. Most of its 57 participating countries are in Europe, but there are a few members present in Asia and North America. The participating states cover much of the land area of the Northern Hemisphere. It was created during the Cold War era as a forum for discussion between the Western Bloc and Eastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Commissioner On National Minorities
Created on July 8, 1992 by the Helsinki Summit Meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), now known as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) is charged with identifying and seeking early resolution of ethnic tension that might endanger peace, stability or friendly relations between and within the participating states of the OSCE. The HCNM focuses on the OSCE area and will alert the Organisation where a situation has the potential to develop into a conflict. The Organisation consists of 57 participating States across North America, Europe and Asia. The establishment of the HCNM is generally considered to be a “success story” and a useful instrument of conflict prevention. History The creation of the office of HCNM was directly related to the political circumstances at the beginning of the 1990s. The Yugoslav Wars were ethnic conflicts that broke out after the collapse of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conference On Security And Co-operation In Europe
The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was a key element of the détente process during the Cold War. Although it did not have the force of a treaty, it recognized the boundaries of postwar Europe and established a mechanism for minimizing political and military tensions between East and West and improving human rights in the Communist Bloc. The first phase was the Meeting of Foreign Ministers in Helsinki in 1973, the second negotiations held in Geneva from 1973 to 1975, and the third the Helsinki summit in 1975. The final document was signed in Helsinki, Finland on August 1, 1975, by 33 European nations, the United States and Canada. It is often called the Helsinki Agreement. In 1994, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was established as a successor to CSCE. Background The Soviet Union had been politically confronted following the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. In addition, it had lost its grip on the communist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matteo Mecacci
Matteo Mecacci (born 21 February 1975) is an Italian diplomat serving as director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR). In the past, he was a Radical Party Member of Parliament in Italy and elected in the lists of the Democratic Party, President of the International Campaign for Tibet and leading advocate for the International Criminal Court, the abolition of the death penalty, religious freedom and other prominent human rights campaigns. Personal life and education Matteo Mecacci was born in Florence, Italy on 21 February 1975. He studied international law in his hometown at the University of Florence. Together with his partner Barbara, an actress and film-maker, and stepson Tommaso, Mecacci lives in Impruneta, Italy. Political career Beginnings Soon after graduation, Mecacci started to work in New York for No Peace Without Justice and the Transnational Radical Party (TRP), a non-governmental organization with the consultative statu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OSCE Representative On Freedom Of The Media
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media functions as a watchdog on media developments in all 57 participating member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The representative provides early warning on violations of freedom of expression and promotes full compliance with OSCE principles and commitments regarding freedom of expression and press freedom. Mission In cases where serious violations have occurred, the representative seeks direct contacts with the offending state and other parties involved, assesses the facts and assists in resolving problems. The representative collects and receives information on the situation of the media from a variety of sources, including participating OSCE States, non-governmental organizations and media organizations. The representative meets with member governments. The office of the representative is based in Vienna, Austria, and has a staff of 15. Each year, they issue a joint declaration calling att ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Office For Democratic Institutions And Human Rights
The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is the principal institution of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) dealing with the " human dimension" of security. The Office, originally named Office for Free Elections, was created in 1990 by the Charter of Paris and established in 1991. The name of the office was changed in 1992 to reflect the broadened mandate it received at the 1992 Helsinki Summit. Based in Warsaw, Poland, ODIHR is active throughout the 57 participating States of the OSCE. It assists governments in meeting their commitments as participating States of the OSCE in the areas of elections, human rights, democracy, rule of law, and tolerance and non-discrimination. The Office also hosts the organization's Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues. On 4 December 2020, Matteo Mecacci of Italy, received a nomination for the position of ODIHR's Director. The office has a staff of some 180. ODIHR activities ODIHR is best k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helga Schmid
Helga Maria Schmid (born 8 December 1960 in Dachau, West Germany) is a German diplomat who has been serving as the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) since 2020. Prior to that appointment (from 2016 until 2020), she was the Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS). Education Schmid has advanced degrees in Literature, History and Politics from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. She also studied International and European Union law, Economics and International relations at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. Career From 1988 Schmid worked in various positions within the German Federal Foreign Office and was assistant private secretary to the minister for European Affairs between 1990 and 1991. From 1991 to 1994 she was the press and public affairs officer for the German embassy in Washington, D.C., under successive ambassadors Jürgen Ruhfus and Immo Stabreit. From 1994 to 1998 Schmid worked as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous city and state. A landlocked country, Austria is bordered by Germany to the northwest, the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The country occupies an area of and has a population of 9 million. Austria emerged from the remnants of the Eastern and Hungarian March at the end of the first millennium. Originally a margraviate of Bavaria, it developed into a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire in 1156 and was later made an archduchy in 1453. In the 16th century, Vienna began serving as the empire's administrative capital and Austria thus became the heartland of the Habsburg monarchy. After the dissolution of the H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris Charter
The Charter of Paris for a New Europe (also known as the Paris Charter) was adopted by a summit meeting of most European governments in addition to those of Canada, the United States and the Soviet Union, in Paris from 19–21 November 1990. The charter was established on the foundation of the Helsinki Accords and was further amended in the 1999 Charter for European Security. Together, these documents form the agreed basis for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. However, not all OSCE member countries have signed the treaty. The Charter was one of many attempts to seize the opportunity of the fall of Communism by actively inviting the former Eastern Bloc-countries into the ideological framework of the West. It has been compared to the Conference of Versailles of 1919 or the Congress of Vienna of 1815 in its grandiose ambition to reshape Europe. In effect, the Paris Summit was the peace conference of the Cold War: ''Perestroika'' had ultimately put an end t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helsinki Accords
The Helsinki Final Act, also known as Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland, between 30 July and 1 August 1975, following two years of negotiations known as the Helsinki Process. All then-existing European countries (except Andorra and pro-Chinese Albania) as well as the United States and Canada, altogether 35 participating states, signed the Final Act in an attempt to improve the détente between the East and the West. The Helsinki Accords, however, were not binding as they did not have treaty status that would have to be ratified by parliaments. Sometimes the term "Helsinki pact(s)" was also used unofficially. Articles In the CSCE terminology, there were four groupings or baskets. In the first basket, the "Declaration on Principles Guiding Relations between Participating States" (also known as "The Decalogue") enu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freedom Of The Press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely. Such freedom implies the absence of interference from an overreaching state; its preservation may be sought through constitution or other legal protection and security. Without respect to governmental information, any government may distinguish which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public. State materials are protected due to either one of two reasons: the classification of information as sensitive, classified or secret, or the relevance of the information to protecting the national interest. Many governments are also subject to " sunshine laws" or freedom of information legislation that are used to define the ambit of national interest and enable citizens to request access to government-held infor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vienna
en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST = CEST , utc_offset_DST = +2 , blank_name = Vehicle registration , blank_info = W , blank1_name = GDP , blank1_info = € 96.5 billion (2020) , blank2_name = GDP per capita , blank2_info = € 50,400 (2020) , blank_name_sec1 = HDI (2019) , blank_info_sec1 = 0.947 · 1st of 9 , blank3_name = Seats in the Federal Council , blank3_info = , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_info_sec2 = .wien , website = , footnotes = , image_blank_emblem = Wien logo.svg , blank_emblem_size = Vienna ( ; german: Wien ; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zbigniew Rau
Zbigniew Rau (; born 3 February 1955) is a Polish politician, lawyer and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland since 26 August 2020. He previously served as the voivode and governor of Łódź Voivodeship from 8 December 2015 to 11 November 2019. Biography Early life and studies Rau was born on 3 February 1955 in Łódź (English: Lodz), in central Poland. In 1977, he graduated from law at the University of Łódź and then briefly worked as a librarian. In 1980, he joined the free trade union "Solidarity". Since 1982, Rau attained the Doctor of Juridical Science degree from Łódź University and occasionally taught at institutions of higher learning in Germany, Great Britain, Australia and the United States. Most notably, Rau was employed and worked at the Max Planck Society in Göttingen, Trinity College in Cambridge and at the University of Texas in Austin. In 1995, he became an academic at his native Łódź University. In 1998, Rau was hired as the spokesman and ass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
