IV CSCE
| Author | Arie Bloed |
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934419401200107 |
| Subject Matter | Part B: Human Rights News |
NQHR
1/1994
IV CSCE
Arie BIoed
The
CSCE:
International
Organization in Statu Nascendi
A. Rome Meeting
of
the
CSCE Council
of
Ministers
On 30 November and 1 December 1993 the annual meeting of the CSCE Council of
Foreign Ministers took place in Rome. At this meeting, at which the CSCE Chairmanship
was transferred from Sweden to Italy, a number of sensitive political issues were at stake.
Although the meeting resulted in the adoption of an extensive concluding document, the
atmosphere at the Rome Council was certainly not an example of harmony.
A difficult political issue was the question of the military involvement
of
the Russian
Federation in its so-called 'near abroad' (the surrounding former Soviet republics with
their large Russian minorities).
It
took great efforts to fmd a compromise which allows
the CIS (but actually Russia) to be involved in 'peacekeeping' activities in these
surrounding states,
but
under certain conditions. The CSCE refused to comply with the
Russian request to give a CSCE legitimization for CIS peacekeeping operations. After
protracted negotiations the Council decided on the following cumbersome clause: 'The
Ministers agreed that the CSCE could consider, on a case-by-case basis and under specific
conditions, the setting up of CSCE co-operative arrangements in order, inter alia, to
ensure that the role and functions of a third party military force in a conflict area are
consistent with
CSCE
principles and objectives." These principles are, for instance,
respect for state sovereignty and territorial integrity of all CSCE states.
Apart from tensions in the relations with the Russians, tensions also existed in the
relations between the Twelve EC States and the USA during the Rome Council. The latter
tensions even escalated in open confrontations at the Council Meeting.
The main results of the Rome Ministerial are decisions on a great number of
institutional issues, on the 'legal status' of CSCE bodies, on a further elaboration of the
Human Dimension
of
the CSCE and its supervisory mechanisms, and on regional political
Issues.
As far as institutional issues is concerned, the Council decided to institutionalize the
so-called CSO Vienna Group by formally establishing it under the name 'Permanent
Committee of the
CSCE'.
The Committee is
'a
permanent body for political consultations
and decision-making in Vienna'. 2The Council also decided to dissolve the Consultative
Committee of the Conflict Prevention Centre. Its functions are assigned to the Forum for
Security Co-operation and the new Permanent Committee. Furthermore, the Council
endorsed the decision to establish a unified CSCE Secretariat in Vienna. From now on the
former Secretariat in Prague functions as the 'Prague office' of the CSCE Secretariat in
Vienna. Integration
of
the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
in Warsaw in the unified CSCE structure was blocked by, in particular, American
opposition. The office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities will also continue
to function as an independent unit.
The political nature of the CSCE process was maintained. Although it was decided
that the CSCE states will confer legal capacity on CSCE institutions, 'subject to their
1 Paragraph 2 of section II of the Rome Decisions.
2Paragraphs 3 and 7
of
section VII of the Rome Decisions.
74
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