The Future of OSCE Field Operations (Options)

Wolfgang Zellner, CORE/IFSH

The second project of the OSCE Network, this study was the joint production of a group of 21 researchers of OSCE Network member institutions and dealt with proposals that do not enjoy consensus within the OSCE. It aimed to stimulate necessary debate in the OSCE at a time when field operations were confronted with a new dimension of challenges, such as in Ukraine. The 2014 Swiss Chairmanship did in fact make use of the project for discussions within the Helsinki +40 process.

The study built on two workshops arranged at OSCE headquarters in Vienna on 27 June and 4 November 2014 at the invitation of Ambassador Philip McDonagh, the special coordinator under the Helsinki +40 process for reviewing the effectiveness and efficiency of the OSCE. OSCE Network representatives launched the study at the “OSCE Parallel Civil Society Conference 2014” – an NGO event that complemented the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Basel, which was also attended by OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier. 

Activities

• Second Brainstorming Meeting on “The Future of OSCE Field Operations (Options),” Vienna, 4 November 
• First Brainstorming Meeting on “The Future of OSCE Field Operations (Options),” Vienna, 27 June