[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 120 (Tuesday, August 2, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5237-S5239]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I wish to submit for the Record a report
on the activity of a congressional delegation I led to Belgrade,
Serbia, from July 7 to 10, to represent the United States at the 20th
Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. I did so in my
capacity as cochairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission.
I was joined by our colleague from New Hampshire, Senator Shaheen,
who also traveled to Sarajevo, Bosnia. Senator Shaheen is also a member
of the Helsinki Commission. Our colleague from Alaska, Senator Begich,
also participated on the delegation but was in Dubrovnik, Croatia, as
part of the official U.S. Delegation to the 6th annual Croatian Summit
of regional political leaders and European officials.
As the report details, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE PA, has been an
excellent opportunity for the U.S. Congress to engage our European
friends and allies, and to make clear to less friendly countries that
our ties to the continent will not be diminished.
U.S. engagement also provides a means for us to advance U.S.
interests by encouraging Europe to focus more on policy issues of
concern to us, from democratic shortcomings within Europe such as
Belarus to the new challenges and opportunities coming from North
Africa and the Middle East and other parts of the world.
The revised Senate schedule made us miss the opening days of the
Belgrade meeting, but we made up for that with an intensive schedule
from Friday to Sunday. All three U.S. resolutions and most of our
delegation's amendments to resolutions were adopted, including a
resolution I submitted on political transition in the Mediterranean
region and amendments welcoming the arrest of at-large war crimes
indictee Ratko Mladic and calling for Turkey to allow the Ecumenical
Patriarch to open a theological school in Halki.
Senator Shaheen and I also used the opportunity of visiting Belgrade
to encourage progress in Serbia's democratic transition. We met with
President Tadic as well as the Speaker of the Serbian National
Assembly, the chief negotiator in the technical talks on Kosovo-related
issues, representatives of civil society, and of Serbia's Romani and
Jewish communities.
We came away from our visit impressed with the progress Serbia has
made thus far. While there are lingering manifestations of the extreme
and violent nationalism from the Milosevic era of the 1990s, I believe
there is a genuine commitment to overcome them. We should support those
in and out of government in Serbia who turn this commitment into
action.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record
the Report to which I referred.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Report of the US. Congressional Delegation (CoDel Cardin) to Belgrade,
Serbia; Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina; and Dubrovnik, Croatia July 7-10,
2011
Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Helsinki Commission Co-
Chairman, and fellow Senator and Commissioner Jeanne Shaheen
(D-NH) traveled to the 20th Annual Session of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), held in Belgrade, Serbia,
from July 6-10, 2011. The senators were able to do this
despite a US. congressional schedule that precluded House
Members from traveling to the meeting and curtailed Senate
attendance to only three of the session's five days. Three
resolutions and more than one dozen amendments to various
resolutions initiated by the United States Delegation were
nevertheless considered and passed by the Assembly. Senator
Shaheen was also able to make a one-day visit to neighboring
Bosnia-Herzegovina, and both Senators were able to link with
their colleague, Senator Mark Begich (D-AK), attending the
Croatian Summit of regional political leaders held in
Dubrovnik, Croatia.
the osce pa
The Parliamentary Assembly was created within the framework
of the OSCE as an independent, consultative body consisting
of 320 parliamentarians from the 56 participating States,
stretching from Central Asia and Russia across Europe and
including the United States and Canada. Annual Sessions are
the chief venue for debating international issues and voting
on a declaration addressing human rights, democratic
development, rule-of-law, economic, environmental and
security concerns among the participating States and the
international community.
The Parliamentary Assembly adopts its declaration by
majority voting for resolutions coming from three committees
dealing with political/security, economic/environmental and
democracy/human rights issues respectively, in addition to
other resolutions introduced by delegations to supplement
these texts. Following the amendment of these resolutions
also by majority voting, this generally allows for
considerable verbiage to be accepted each year but also for
franker language addressing controversial or new issues to be
included than the OSCE itself can achieve on the basis of
consensus among the 56 participating States. The heavy focus
of OSCE diplomats on issues like trafficking in persons and
combating intolerance in society is rooted in initiatives
originally undertaken by the parliamentarians in the
Assembly.
Having the largest delegation with 17 members, the United
States historically has played a key role in OSCE PA
proceedings, and there has been robust congressional
participation since the Assembly's inception two decades ago.
This engagement is reassuring to friends and allies in Europe
while ensuring that issues of interest or concern to U.S.
foreign policy are raised and discussed. In addition to
representing the United States as delegates, members of the
Helsinki Commission have served as OSCE PA special
representatives on specific issues of concern, committee
officers, vice presidents and the Assembly president.
The Twentieth Annual Session
This year's Annual Session was hosted by the National
Assembly of Serbia and held in Belgrade's Sava Center, the
1977-78 venue for the first follow-up meeting of the
diplomatic process that was initiated by the 1975 signing of
the Helsinki Final Act and is the OSCE today. During various
interventions at the session, note was made not only of the
vast changes in Europe since that time but also in Serbia,
which was then a constituent republic of the former
Yugoslavia but is today an independent state making progress
in democratic development after overcoming more than a decade
of authoritarian rule and extreme nationalist sentiment.
A meeting of the Standing Committee--composed of OSCE PA
officers plus the heads of all delegations--met prior to the
opening of the Annual Session. Chaired by OSCE PA President
Petros Efthymiou of Greece, the committee heard numerous
reports on the activities of the past year, endorsed a budget
that has remained frozen for a fourth consecutive fiscal
year, and approved for consideration at the Annual Session 25
of the 26
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items introduced by various delegations to supplement the
committee resolutions. Only an Italian draft on Asbestos
Contamination failed to achieve a 2/3 vote approving its
consideration.
With approximately 230 parliamentarians in attendance, the
opening plenary of the Annual Session featured a welcome by
Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic and National Assembly
Speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic and reports by the OSCE
Chair-in Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius
Azubalis, and the newly appointed OSCE Secretary General,
Lamberto Zannier of Italy. Zannier welcomed the OSCE PA's
interest in fostering closer cooperation with the OSCE
Permanent Council in Vienna and committed himself to
facilitating greater PA engagement through his leadership of
the OSCE Secretariat and coordination with its institutions.
In his own remarks, PA President Efthymiou noted the
``spirit of Helsinki'' which developed at the Belgrade
meeting more than three decades ago and lamented the crisis
in which the OSCE finds itself today. He called for
significant changes to the operations of the Vienna-based
organization to make it more effective and relevant in
addressing the political and security issues of today. The
theme for the Annual Session--Strengthening the OSCE'S
Effectiveness and Efficiency, a New Start after the Astana
Summit--was chosen to address this matter in light of last
December's summit meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, which had
heightened the political attention paid to the OSCE's work.
The following three days were devoted to committee
consideration and amendment of the three resolutions and 21
supplementary items, and plenary consideration of the four
additional supplementary items. Two additional resolutions
were defeated in the process. The first was another
initiative of an Italian delegate focusing on crimes causing
serious social alarm, which lacked significant support. The
second originated with the Belgian delegation on enlarging
the OSCE's Mediterranean Partners for Cooperation to include
Lebanon and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The
latter was lost in a close vote after being heavily debated
by those who advocate wider engagement in the long-term and
those who questioned the timing of taking such an initiative.
A number of parliamentarians felt it inappropriate for the
OSCE to solicit interest by the Lebanese Government and the
PNA while they are both under leadership that does not
embrace OSCE principles. Some of the resolutions which did
pass examined the deplorable human rights situation in
Belarus, the unresolved conflict in Moldova, gender issues in
the OSCE and the participating States, national minority
concerns including the plight of Roma, cyber security, as
well as combating violent extremism, transnational organized
crime, and human trafficking for labor and organs.
U.S. Initiatives in Belgrade
Despite its small size, the U.S. Delegation remained very
active in the deliberations, introducing three resolutions of
its own, working closely with the delegation of the
Netherlands on a fourth, and suggesting over a dozen
amendments to various texts. All four of these resolutions
were adopted, as were all but two of the U.S. amendments.
Co-Chairman Cardin's major initiative was a resolution on
Mediterranean Political Transition, which directs the OSCE
and its participating States to make their expertise in
building democratic institutions available to Mediterranean
Partner States: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and
Tunisia. The resolution specifically encouraged the interim
governments of Egypt and Tunisia to make a formal request for
OSCE support following their consultations with the OSCE
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
It also called for an OSCE civil society forum to be hosted
by a Mediterranean Partner State later this year. The Senator
collaborated with the head of the Spanish delegation on
numerous additional amendments to demonstrate the real
priority this should be for the organization, and the
initiative received widespread praise among the delegates.
``We have all been inspired by the movements for freedom and
change sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa,''
Senator Cardin noted while introducing the resolution, ``and
we support the citizens of the countries in the region as
they demand respect for their basic human rights, economic
opportunity, and open and responsive government . . . The
OSCE and our Parliamentary Assembly have substantial capacity
to assist our Mediterranean Partners . . . We also must
condemn in the strongest terms the unbridled violence
unleashed by the governments of Libya and Syria against their
own citizens.''
Though not in attendance, Commission Chairman Christopher
H. Smith (R-NJ) introduced two resolutions for the Assembly's
consideration that also were adopted. The first dealt with
Combating Labor Trafficking in Supply Chains, urging
governments to ensure that all goods they procure are free
from raw materials and finished products produced by
trafficked labor and to press corporations to independently
verify that their supply chains are free of exploitation. The
resolution also sought to raise consumer awareness about
industries more likely to use trafficked labor. Two
strengthening amendments authored by Co-Chairman Cardin were
adopted. The amendments welcomed a recent OSCE meeting on the
issue and urged diplomats to pass a declaration on the matter
during a meeting of OSCE foreign ministers later this year.
The second Smith Resolution focused on International
Parental Child Abductions and passed without amendment. Its
core focus was to press OSCE States to become parties to the
1983 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International
Child Abduction and to implement its provisions. The
resolution also urged that parental child abduction be
considered at the 2011 OSCE Ministerial Council in Vilnius
this December.
Ranking House Commissioner Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL), who
serves as the Parliamentary Assembly's Special Representative
on Mediterranean Affairs, collaborated with OSCE PA Special
Representative on Migration Kathleen Ferrier of the
Netherlands on countering racism and xenophobia in Europe
with measures to foster inclusion of affected communities.
Noting that 2011 has been designated the International Year
for People of African Descent, the resolution included a
focus on racial bias against citizens and migrants of African
descent, and called for specific measures to be taken by OSCE
institutions to address reported increases of racial and
ethnic discrimination in the OSCE region. The resolution also
emphasized the importance of integrating ethnic minorities
into economic and political life through capacity building
partnerships between the public and private sector. The
resolution passed with widespread support.
Supported by Senator Shaheen, Co-Chairman Cardin covered
several smaller and more detailed issues with amendments,
such as one welcoming the arrest in Serbia of at-large war
crimes indictee Ratko Mladic, another urging Turkey to allow
the reopening of the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate's
Theological School of Halki without condition or further
delay, and another supporting greater transparency in the
energy sector. Working with a German delegate, Senator Cardin
also succeeded in removing language from a Serbian resolution
which politicized the issue of investigating an organ-
trafficking case that originated in neighboring Kosovo during
the 1999 conflict. Serbian officials lobbied the PA Assembly
directly and through the media to accept the resolution's
call for the United Nations to conduct the investigation,
contrary to the efforts being undertaken by the U.S. and EU
to proceed through an already established EU rule-of-law
mission. The U.S.-supported amendment was successful in
designating the EU entity and the U.N. Mission in Kosovo as
responsible for the investigation. There was insufficient
support, however, for a U.S. amendment welcoming EU efforts
thus far.
During the course of debate, Co-Chairman Cardin also
suggested granting Mediterranean Partner countries a greater
ability to participate in OSCE PA sessions through changes to
Assembly rules. He also highlighted U.S. policy on cyber
security in the vigorous debate of a resolution which in some
respects diverged from the U.S. approach. In his capacity as
an OSCE Vice President, the Senator, as an urgent matter,
also supported consideration of a resolution focused on the
lack of transparency in the OSCE during the recent selection
of a new Secretary General. Language on this matter was also
included in the final declaration.
Selecting the OSCE PA Leadership for the Coming Year
In addition to hearing closing comments from Serbian
Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and adopting the final
declaration, the parliamentarians attending the Annual
Session voted for contested seats in the Assembly's
leadership. President Efthymiou was unopposed, as was
Treasurer Roberto Battelli of Slovenia, and both were re-
elected by acclamation. In a race among six candidates for
three of the nine Vice President positions, Wolfgang
Grossruck of Austria was re-elected, with Walburga Habsburg-
Douglas of Sweden and Tonino Picula of Croatia elected for
the first time. Senator Cardin has one additional year in his
term as Vice President and is not eligible for another re-
election.
Committee officers saw more dramatic changes, with only one
officer retaining his position as committee chair. Others
moved to higher positions within the committees or ran for
the three Vice President seats. Unfortunately for the U.S.
Delegation, Representative Robert B. Aderholt (R-AL), a
Helsinki Commissioner, did not win his second re-election bid
as a committee Vice Chair due to his inability to be in
Belgrade. He was unsuccessful in fighting off a challenge by
a French delegate who entered the race at the last minute.
Side Events in Belgrade
In addition to the formal proceedings, OSCE PA meetings
often offer the possibility for delegations to sponsor side-
events on issues needing additional attention. A luncheon
focusing on gender issues in the OSCE is held annually,
including in Belgrade. Non-governmental organizations may
also hold their own events and invite the delegates to
participate. In Belgrade, a coalition held a session on
continued use of torture in OSCE States, with a focus
particularly on the situation in Kyrgyzstan following the
ethnic violence in 2009. Delegation-sponsored events in
Belgrade included one on human rights abuses in Belarus, one
on cases of alleged trafficking in human organs in Kosovo and
elsewhere, and one featuring a film on two Jewish sisters in
Serbia who escaped the Holocaust during World War II. With
Senator Shaheen and U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Mary Burce
Warlick in attendance, Senator
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Cardin participated in the latter event with opening comments
on the work of the Vienna-based organization Centropa, which
prepared the -film. Delegation staff attended most of the
other side events as well.
Bilateral Meetings with Serbia and a Side-Trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina
While the delegation travelled to Belgrade principally to
represent the United States at the OSCE PA Annual Session,
the Helsinki Commission leadership regularly uses this travel
to discuss bilateral issues with the host country and to
visit nearby countries of concern. In Serbia, the delegation
met with President Boris Tadic, National Assembly Speaker
Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, and chief negotiator for technical
talks on Kosovo Boris Stefanovic. Ambassador Warlick briefed
the Senators and attended the meetings.
Evident in the bilateral meetings was the progress Serbia
was making in its internal political transition and
attainment of European integration. Serbian officials made
clear they were committed to overcoming the nationalist
legacy of the Milosevic era, strengthening Serbia's
democratic institutions and encouraging greater respect for
the rule of law. While there are clear differences between
the United States and Serbia regarding Kosovo, the officials
asked for an expression of congressional support for
agreements being reached in technical talks between Belgrade
and Pristina that were of direct benefit to the people and
brought an increased sense of regional stability, as well.
They also stressed their support for Bosnia-Herzegovina's
unity and territorial integrity. The U.S. Delegation welcomed
Serbia's approach and encouraged Belgrade to curtail the
activity of parallel Serbian institutions in northern Kosovo
which are currently the greatest source of instability in the
region. The message was amplified throughout the region by a
VOA interview conducted with Senator Cardin.
The U.S. Delegation also met with representatives of
Serbia's civil society and Romani communities. The Senators
expressed support for civil society efforts to promote
greater tolerance in society, to monitor the extent to which
laws and policies adopted were actually implemented, and to
tackle issues--such as corruption--that impede prosperity.
They learned that the Romani communities in Serbia, similar
to those in other countries, have difficulties in obtaining
adequate housing, education for their children and personal
documentation necessary to exercise their rights and
privileges as citizens. In a meeting with Serbia's Chief
Rabbi, which also included the President of the Jewish
Federation of Serbia, the discussion focused on religious
tolerance in the region, cooperation with the other religious
groups in Belgrade, and property restitution legislation
pending in the Serbian parliament.
On July 9, Senator Shaheen left the proceedings of the OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly to make a one-day visit to neighboring
Bosnia-Herzegovina, where ethnically based political
differences continue to hamper government formation and the
political and economic reforms necessary for progress on
European integration. Visiting two days prior to the 16th
anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica, the Senator met
with Kathryne Bomberger of the International Commission on
Missing Persons and stood next to Bosniak member of the
collective state presidency Bakir Izetbegovic and U.S.
Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina Patrick S. Moon to pay her
respects as the procession of 613 victims to be buried during
the July 11 Srebrenica memorial service passed by. She
expressed U.S. condolences to the families of those mourning
in a media interview that received wide and favorable
coverage.
Senator Shaheen also met with Social Democratic Party
Chairman Zlatko Lagumdzija and several officials at the
entity and local levels of government to discuss ways to
overcome the country's current political impasse and to find
a solution in particular on forming a state-level coalition
government. She also met with several women entrepreneurs and
leaders of nongovernmental organizations to discuss their
particular concerns and ability to have a positive impact in
an ethnically divided Bosnian society. From the international
presence, the Senator met with Head of the OSCE Mission Gary
Robbins and the Deputy High Representative Roderick Moore,
both from the United States. Senator Shaheen noted the
continued commitment of the United States to political
stability in Bosnia-Herzegovina and its progress toward
increasing integration into European institutions, indicating
that that engagement was supported both by the Administration
and Congress. In a media interview, she stressed that the
political and civil society leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina
need to work together and across ethnic lines if the country
is to accede to the European Union or receive IMF funding.
The Croatian Summit
At the conclusion of the OSCE PA Annual Session and prior
to their return to Washington, Senators Cardin and Shaheen
joined their colleague, Senator Begich, who was attending the
6th Croatian Summit of regional political leaders and
European officials in Dubrovnik, Croatia, as part of the
official U.S. Delegation led by Under Secretary of State for
Political Affairs William Burns. In his statement to the
summit and during meetings with various leaders, particularly
with Croatian officials, Senator Begich expressed his
appreciation of Croatia's performance as a NATO ally,
including its support for NATO operations in Afghanistan, and
encouraged Croatia to support neighboring Bosnia's stability
and prosperity. He also suggested ways Croatia could enhance
its business and investment climate.
Conclusion
During the course of three days, the delegation led by
Senator Cardin was able to advance U.S. objectives at the
multilateral OSCE PA as well as the U.S. bilateral agenda
with Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. The curtailed
schedule precluded additional travel, including a planned
visit to Albania, but the Senators compensated with a level
of activity that indicated their commitment as well as that
of the U.S. Congress and the United States as a whole, to the
countries of the Western Balkans and to European security and
cooperation through the OSCE.
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly continues to serve not only
as a venue for demonstrating the U.S. commitment to Europe,
but for advancing new ideas and issues that parliamentarians
can press their diplomatic counterparts in the OSCE to
incorporate into the organization's work. In the past,
Parliamentary Assembly efforts were responsible for the OSCE
undertaking action to combat human trafficking and counter
anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance that help define
the OSCE today. With proper follow-up in capitals and at the
OSCE in Vienna, the recommendations adopted in the Belgrade
Declaration will hopefully provide the needed impetus to
activity that will keep the OSCE effective and relevant.
Meeting in Belgrade gave a greater-than-usual regional
dimension to this year's U.S. Delegation to the OSCE PA
Annual Session, the immediately preceding Annual Sessions
having been held in Oslo, Norway, and Vilnius, Lithuania.
Ethnic tensions and suspicions from a decade of wars in the
Western Balkans are still strong factors in the bilateral
relations of the countries visited by the congressional
delegation, and their economic growth has been negatively
affected not only by the larger international crisis but by
poor economic governance as well. At a time of both promise
and uncertainty, the reassurance of continued U.S. engagement
was welcomed by government officials, civil society
representatives and by the media that extensively covered the
delegation's activities.
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