I Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
| Date | 01 March 2011 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934411102900107 |
| Published date | 01 March 2011 |
| Author | Arie Bloed |
| Subject Matter | Part B: Human Rights News |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human R ights, Vol. 29/1, 107–130, 2011.
© Netherlands I nstitute of Human Ri ghts (SIM), Printed in the Net herlands. 107
PART B: HUMAN RIGHTS NEWS
I oRgAnIsAtIon FoR seCURItY AnD
CooPeRAtIon In eURoPe (osCe)
A B*
1. THE ASTANA OSCE SUMMIT: THE MOUNTAIN GIVES
BIRTH TO A MOUSE1
1.1. PREPARATIONS
e second par t of the year 2010 was st rongly dominated by the prepar ations for
the OSCE Su mmit in Astana, Kazakhsta n, on 1–2 December. Aer the dec ision was
taken in mid-July, the OSCE went into hyper-drive in order to prepare for a successful
meeting. It ha s been the rst one since 1999, so for almost e verybody involved it is a
completely new experience which puts extr a pressure on all the work involved.
A lot of time was devoted to the ‘review conference’ which according to OSCE rules
should precede every su mmit. is time th is conference was broken down into three
phases: a rst meeting for the review of human dimension issues took place in Warsaw
in September and October (instead of the regular Human Dimension Implementation
Meeting which take s place in years without a summit). is was followed by a second
meeting in Vienna, devoted more to politico-military issues, whi le in November a last
meeting took place in Astana, dea ling with all the remaining issues. It is the rst time
in t he OSCE’s history that a review conference has been split into phases and even
held in three dierent countr ies.
e Warsaw review con ference received s ome extra attention due to the eorts
by Turkmenistan to ban some non-governmental organisations from the meeting
premises. It concerned two Turkmen exiles who had pre-registered to at tend the
meeting, but were blocked from entr y because of Turkmen accusat ions that both had
committed criminal ac ts. In the end the S ecretary Genera l decided to admit one of
them to the meeting. However, it seems that Kaza kh diplomats had warned both that
if they would come to the Astana Su mmit they cou ld face problems. Rumours were
also ci rculating that Turkmenista n was threatening to block progress at the summit
if the two Turkmen would be allowed to attend the summ it as part of the civil society
* Director of the Asia-Paci c Law Enforcement Instit ute, Bangkok, ai land.
1 www.shrblog.org/blog/OSCE _summit_ _the_mou ntain_g ives_birt h_to_a_ mouse.html?id=58.
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