OSCE Parliamentary Assembly:
Officials discuss international challenges in Tbilisi

Hundreds of world officials and experts are today attending the second day of the annual Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA), which is taking place in Tbilisi from July 1-5.

After the official opening ceremony with international leaders delivering speeches yesterday, the event continued with Parliamentary debates in committee and plenary meetings today.

This morning the first sitting took place at the General Committee on Political Affairs and Security, which opened with statements of condolences by the Committee Chair, member of the United States (US) Delegation Roger Wicker regarding the latest terrorist attack in Istanbul, Turkey.

Wicker also talked about the frequency of terrorist acts and recalled the attacks on Brussels, Paris and Turkey. He said it was necessary to have unified and consolidated approach against international terrorism as terrorism was not a problem of any specific country but a global threat against security.

At the Committee sitting, Swedish Delegation member Margareta Cederfelt presented a report emphasising five main directions in the fight against terrorism:

1. Transnational terrorism;
2. Russian aggression against Ukraine;
3. Protracted conflicts;
4. Role of women in armed conflicts; 
5. Inter-relation of democracy and security.

In her report the Swedish politician said national parliaments had the leading role to solve problems, as with their legislative norms parliaments had the capacity to respond to numerous political and security challenges.

She added the use of OSCE mechanisms were also important to address the five above-mentioned problems, which she believed needed to be solved peacefully and with dialogue.

After the main report, politicians participated in debates.

The facts provided in the report, namely the aggression against Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, were regarded as "tendentious” by the Russian delegation. Unlike the Russians, the Ukrainian delegation welcomed the report and said they would support the international adoption of the document.

Today’s Committee discussion only covered three points out of an 87 point program. The meeting will continue tomorrow morning.

Later today two other Committee meetings will take place. These will be:

• General Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment; and
• General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions

Featuring several days of parliamentary debate in committee and plenary meetings, the OSCE PA session was expected to culminate in adoption by majority vote of the 2016 Tbilisi Declaration.

The Declaration will contain the Assembly's wide-ranging pronouncements and policy recommendations for the OSCE and its participating states in the fields of political affairs, economics the environment and human rights.

The Declaration will then be sent to foreign ministers of the OSCE participating states and presented in national parliaments.