N E W S L E T T E R

The Parliamentary Assembly Team on Belarus visited Minsk in June to assess progress on conditions for free elections

Parliamentary Team visits Moldova

The OSCE Parliamentary Team, represented by Kimmo Kiljunen (Chair, Finland) and Tone Tingsgård (Sweden), visited Moldova for the second time on 8 and 9 June. On 8 June they held talks in Tiraspol with the Speaker and other representatives of the Supreme Soviet. On 9 June, the Team met in Chisinau with the Speaker and other representatives of the Parliament of Moldova. The discussions in Tiraspol and Chisinau dealt with a draft Resolution on Moldova to be debated at the Ninth Annual Session of the Assembly in Bucharest. Prior to the visit, on 1 June, Mr. Kiljunen, who is also Chair of the First General Committee of the OSCE PA, reported to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on the activities of the Team.

Parliamentary Team visits Belarus to assess conditions for free elections

A parliamentary delegation, representing the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE and the European Parliament, visited Minsk from 19 to 22 June 2000. The delegation was headed by Adrian Severin, the head of the OSCE PA ad hoc Working Group on Belarus, and Jan Wiersma, President of the European Parliament delegation for relations with Belarus. During their visit, the delegation had meetings with Prime Minister Ermoshin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Latypov and Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Zametalin.

The delegation also met with the leadership of the opposition parties and the 13th Supreme Soviet, with the Chairperson of the Central Election Commission, with representatives of the independent press and of the State media administration, and with representatives of many NGOs and human rights organizations. At the beginning of their visit, they were present for the reading of the verdict against Nikolai Statkevich and Valery Shchukin, both opposition leaders, for their role in the October 1999 Freedom March. The delegation also met with Mikhail Chigir, the former Prime Minister, and with relatives of the personalities prosecuted for political reasons.

The delegation came to Belarus to determine if earlier efforts to promote negotiations between Opposition and Government were leading towards the conditions for holding free and democratic elections, tentatively scheduled to take place in autumn this year. In a statement on 22 June, the delegation made an urgent appeal to the Government to make full use of the limited time still available and to immediately take up and intensify negotiations with the Opposition, in order to improve the conditions for the organization of democratic elections in Belarus. The delegation has not yet made a final decision on the question of whether to recommend that international observers be sent to the parliamentary elections in Belarus.

President Degn addresses Beijing + 5

On 5 June, OSCE PA President Helle Degn addressed the Beijing +5 meeting in New York, representing the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. In her statement, she emphasized the role that the OSCE is playing in implementing the objectives of the Beijing Process, especially in connection with violence against women, women in armed conflict, women in power and positions of decision-making and the human rights of women. President Degn also stressed that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was in an excellent position to raise awareness of women's under-representation in national parliaments and executive bodies, as well as within the OSCE itself.

PA President participates in Human Dimension Meeting

On 19 June, the OSCE PA President participated in the Human Dimension Meeting on Trafficking in Human Beings, in Vienna. She delivered a statement in which she stressed the strong relationship between the problem of trafficking and women's overall marginalization in society. She emphasized that coherent international co-operation was required in order to tackle the problem, and called in particular for the development of comprehensive preventive measures. President Degn also emphasized that without placing the problem of trafficking in human beings in its broader context, international institutions would be unable to tackle the problem effectively. In conjunction with the Human Dimension Meeting, President Degn also chaired a side meeting on the Beijing +5 process, reporting on the progress of the Beijing commitments and the challenges facing the process.

PA to hold seminar on organized crime and corruption

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will hold a Seminar on Organized Crime and Corruption on 4 and 5 October in Limassol, Cyprus, at the invitation of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus. This Seminar will provide an opportunity for the discussion and sharing of ideas between Members of Parliament from different OSCE countries and prominent officials and experts of international standing. The two-day Seminar will consist of a series of presentations and discussions on various aspects of the topic, including the distorting effects of organized crime and corruption on economic development and the process of post-conflict rehabilitation, as well as international strategies to combat crime and corruption.

Ninth annual session of the OSCE PA elects Adrian Severin as new President

At the Ninth Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, held in Bucharest from 6 to 10 July 2000, Adrian Severin of Romania was elected by acclamation as President of the Assembly to succeed Helle Degn. In his address to the Assembly, Mr. Severin stated that his main priorities would be to make the Assembly the most important source of vision and the primary advisory body to the OSCE governmental Institutions. Mr. Severin, a former Foreign Minister and Chair of the Assembly's ad hoc Working Group on Belarus, is the first President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly from the Central and Eastern European region.

At its Annual Session in July, Adrian Severin of Romania was elected as President of the Parliamentary Assembly

Nearly 300 parliamentarians from more than 50 countries attended the Annual Session and participated in thorough discussions and debates of OSCE issues over a period of four and a half days. The Annual Session was also attended by observers from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, the European Parliament, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the Assembly of Western European Union, the Inter parliamentary Assembly of the CIS, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Co-operation and the Nordic Council.

Inaugural Plenary Session of Annual Session

Immediately after a meeting of the Assembly's Standing Committee, the Ninth Annual Session in Bucharest was opened by the outgoing President, Helle Degn. She stated that the high point of her second term had undoubtedly been the OSCE Summit in Istanbul where she reminded the top political leaders of the OSCE states of the need to tackle the democratic deficit of the OSCE and that the Parliamentary Assembly still lacked formal status in the OSCE's decision-making processes. President Degn emphasized that transparency, accountability and openness were essential elements of a modern international organization, points that were also highlighted in the St. Petersburg declaration last year.

Next the participants heard welcoming remarks by the Speaker of the Romanian House of Deputies, Ion Diaconescu and the President of the Senate, Mircea Ionescu Quintus, as well as by the President of Romania, Emil Constantinescu.

In her address to the Opening Session, the Chairperson-in-Office, Ms. Benita Ferrero-Waldner praised the parliamentarians for being among the OSCE's most important allies in the task of enhancing public awareness of work of the Organization and she appealed to them to continue to act as advocates of the OSCE and its Missions.

In his address, Petre Roman, Foreign Minister of Romania, paid tribute to the Parliamentary Assembly as a "vanguard influence" on the OSCE as a whole. During the Romanian Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2001, priority regions in the field of conflict prevention and crisis management would be south-eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Mr. Roman emphasized the importance of increased transparency in the decision-making process of the OSCE.

At the Opening Session presentations were also given by the OSCE Secretary General, Jan Kubis; OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Max van der Stoel; the Director of the ODIHR, Gerard Stoudmann; the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Freimut Duve and the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, Thomas Price. The Assembly also heard presentations by the President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Lord Russell-Johnston; the Vice-Chairman of the Assembly of the Western European Union, Jacques Baumel; the Vice-President of the European Parliament, Jan Kees Wiebenga; the Vice-President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Frank Cook, and the Representative of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, Alexander Shpylevsky.

OSCE prize for Journalism and Democracy in 2000 awarded to Andrei Babitsky

President Helle Degn informed the Assembly that the Bureau had decided to award the 2000 OSCE Prize for Journalism and Democracy to the Russian Journalist, Andrei Babitsky. Unfortunately Mr. Babitsky was unable to attend the Session in Bucharest because the Russian authorities did not allow him to travel. Mr. Babitsky was represented by his wife, Mrs. Ludmila Babitskaya, who on her husband's behalf received the Prize from the Speaker of the Romanian House of Deputies, Mr. Diaconescu, and read her husband's statement of gratitude and regret at being unable to be present himself. President Degn recalled that this was the fifth time the OSCE PA presented the Prize, which had become an important and well-recognized OSCE instrument in the promotion of the freedom of the media. She expressed gratitude to the donors who have made the Prize possible through their generous financial contributions: the Bertelsmann Company of Germany, the Bonnier Group of Sweden, the Danish Berlingske Foundation, the Southam/Hollinger Company of Canada, the Schibsted Company of Norway and the George and Thelma Paraskevaides Foundation of Cyprus.

Meeting of Women Parliamentarians

Also on the first day of the Bucharest Session the traditional Meeting of Women Parliamentarians took place, jointly chaired by President Degn and former President of the German Bundestag Mrs. Rita Sussmuth. The Meeting passed a declaration which supports recent OSCE initiatives to promote women's issues, but criticizes the general progress of gender equality within the OSCE.

Bucharest Declaration

During their meetings on 7 to 9 July, the three General Committees of the Assembly considered the three Reports and draft Resolutions dealing with the political, economic and human rights aspects of the central theme of the Ninth Annual Session: 'Good Governance : Regional Co-operation, Strengthening Democratic Institutions, Promoting Transparency, Enforcing the Rule of Law and Combating Corruption'.

On 10 July, the final day of the Session, the Assembly adopted the Bucharest Declaration, which covers a wide range of political, economic and human rights issues and includes Resolutions on specific topics. The Resolution on Belarus calls on all sides to pave the way for free, fair and internationally recognizable parliamentary elections this autumn in Belarus. The Resolution on Moldova expressed its concern regarding the stalemate in the negotiations on the status of Transdniestra and emphasized the need for a common State for all the peoples of Moldova.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, addressing the Ninth Annual Session of the Parliamentary Assembly in Bucharest

The Assembly also adopted a Resolution on developments in the northern Caucasus which calls for a political solution to the conflict in Chechnya (RF), as well as the earliest possible return of the OSCE Assistance Group. On arms and weapons trading, the Assembly passed a Resolution calling for a convention regulating the trade in arms and the establishment of an international body with jurisdiction over any violations of the convention.

The Assembly also debated the OSCE recruiting policies and adopted a Resolution calling for reduced reliance on secondment in the long-term field-missions, to ensure the continuity of the important work carried out in the missions. On economic and environmental issues the Assembly appealed to all OSCE participating States to honour their commitments under the Kyoto and Aarhus Protocols. Other Resolutions included appeals to abolish the death penalty for all crimes; preserve the ABM Treaty; ensure media freedom in the OSCE region; combat corruption and fully implement the Stability Pact for South-eastern Europe under OSCE auspices.

Officers elected

In addition to its new President, the Assembly also elected three Vice-Presidents, including: Gennady Seleznev, Speaker of the Russian Duma who was re-elected to a second three-year term; Rita Sussmuth, former President of the German Bundestag and Nino Burjanadze of Georgia, who were both elected for three-year terms. From the First General Committee Alcee Hastings (USA) was elected Chair, Göran Lenmarker (Sweden) as Vice-Chair and Andr?s Bars—ny (Hungary) was elected as Rapporteur for a second year. From the Second Committee Jacques Floch (France) was re-elected Chair, Oleg Bilorus (Ukraine) Vice-Chair and Barbara Haering (Switzerland) was re-elected Rapporteur. From the Third Committee Gert Weisskirchen (Germany) was re-elected Chairman, Dorota Simonides (Poland) was re-elected Vice-Chair and Elena Mizulina (Russian Federation) was elected as Rapporteur.