01.10.2015

New York, 01.10.2015 – Discorso del Consigliere federale Didier Burkhalter in occasione della settantesima sessione dell’Assemblea generale dell'ONU (Ministerial event on "OSCE Peace Operations" on the margins of the High-Level Segment of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly) - Fa stato la versione orale

Oratore: Didier Burkhalter; Rappresentante svizzero all’ONU

Side-event "OSCE Peace Operations" al margine della settimana ad alto livello della 70a edizione dell’Assemblea generale dell’ONU ©

Secretary-General,
Ministers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,

The United Nations celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, and Switzerland extends its warm congratulations. There are also two OSCE anniversaries in 2015: the Helsinki Final Act, which has become a major foundation for European security, is 40 years old; furthermore, the OSCE as an organisation is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Compared to the UN, the OSCE is still an adolescent – but one with a remarkable history and with great potential.

Switzerland’s term as member of the OSCE Troika is drawing to a close. Based on these three years of personal experience, I am more convinced than ever that we should strengthen and develop the OSCE further. We should also enhance ties between the OSCE and the UN. The OSCE needs and deserves our ministerial support to act as an anchor of cooperative security in Europe.

During its first two decades, the OSCE has made significant contributions to the promotion of peace, security, and good governance in the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian regions. It has established a valuable toolbox, including field missions, to prevent and address conflicts in the OSCE area.

It must also be said, however, that the OSCE almost disappeared from the political radar for several years. Its instruments had become underused. Overall, its toolbox has developed less well than many had anticipated in the 1990s.

The Ukraine crisis has fostered a new political awareness of the value and potential of the OSCE – as a platform for inclusive dialogue, but also as an operational responder. We, the participating States, must continue to provide the OSCE with our best possible support for its demanding yet essential tasks in addressing the Ukraine crisis.

In addition, we should seize the opportunity presented by this greater awareness to have a political discussion on the future of the OSCE. What role should it fulfil in the years ahead? What steps must be taken so that it can deliver?

With this in mind, I very much welcome Serbia’s initiative for this side event today. Switzerland has been proposing a review of OSCE peace operations for some time now. I appreciate the opportunity to share a few thoughts with you on this.

Our security environment has changed substantially in recent years. The number of major violent conflicts has starkly increased. And these conflicts and crisis situations are characterised by great complexity. They must be addressed with a multidimensional approach, in other words, with complex peace operations.

With its comprehensive security approach, the OSCE is well positioned in this regard. But there are also some challenges that we ought to address.

Let me illustrate this with the Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine: The SMM was the first major field mission to be launched by the OSCE in more than a decade. I wish to commend the SMM management and all SMM monitors for their professional and extremely important work.

Despite deep political divisions over the Ukraine crisis, we managed to set up and deploy the SMM rapidly in March 2014. This consensus decision was an important signal that the OSCE was capable of acting in the Ukraine crisis, and that compromise solutions were possible.

The scope of the SMM has since expanded significantly.  The mission also performs hard-security tasks today. OSCE staff in Vienna and in the field have shown great commitment in adapting to changing and growing needs and demands. It is also true, however, that the OSCE has had to improvise considerably to arrive at where the SMM is today. There is a need for more OSCE capacity to plan, conduct, and support peace operations.

The SMM is a civilian mission operating in a hazardous, partly hostile, environment. In order to effectively execute its mandate of observing and reporting on the security situation on the ground, it frequently has had to adapt to changing circumstances and integrate new capabilities.  I recall long and difficult discussions before we were finally able to deploy UAVs in the Donbass. Other capabilities that have proven necessary include armoured vehicles, secure communications, medical evacuation, and satellite imagery.

One of the great assets of the OSCE is its ability to harness a vast range of expertise through seconded or contracted civilian mission members. Today, the SMM unites specialists in ceasefire monitoring and verification, dialogue facilitation, human rights, mine clearance, and many more areas. Many of its monitors have military or police backgrounds.

The challenges lie beyond the individual expert level, however. They concern the operational capacity deficits.

So where should we be heading? From my point of view, the OSCE should remain an essentially civilian organisation. Its civilian missions and expertise are a comparative advantage that must be preserved and maximised. The OSCE should not duplicate other organisations. There is no need to push towards military peacekeeping.

That said, the OSCE must adapt to today’s needs for effective peace operations. It needs more planning resources. We also should assess the extent to which we can and should provide the OSCE with capacity for some of the capabilities that had to be built into the SMM on an ad hoc basis.  More generally, we should look at ways of permitting more robust capabilities to be included in OSCE missions – as well as at the political, financial and legal implications of this. This is why Switzerland believes it is time for participating States to commission a review of OSCE peace operations.

Let me conclude by making the case for a strong OSCE partnership with the UN in this field. The UN is the most experienced and by far the most broadly engaged organisation when it comes to peace operations. The current record deployment of 128’000 people speaks volumes – these people and the UN deserve our respect and gratitude for their work.

Recently, the UN had its own review process for its peace operations. This is another good reason that the OSCE should now take this path.

It actually strikes me that last month’s report of the UN Secretary-General on implementing the Recommendations of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations contains some similar findings than the Interim Report of the Panel of Eminent Persons on European Security as a Common Project.

Just like the Interim Report from the OSCE Troika-mandated Panel, the report of the UN Secretary-General indicates the primary importance of negotiated political solutions to conflicts, and the need to deploy operational instruments accordingly. Both reports emphasise the importance of prevention and mediation capabilities. In the OSCE, there is a particular need to expand instruments of early political action. Finally, both reports stress the need for stronger partnership with other organisations.

Dear colleagues

We must step up our recent efforts to revitalise the UN-OSCE relationship. This also means that we should further operationalise the OSCE’s role as a regional arrangement under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter. It seems realistic that the UN will increasingly look to regional organisations to share the burden of resolving conflicts and promoting peace. It is our responsibility to ensure that the OSCE is ready to play its part.


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