Nyhedsbrev fra Ambassadør Andreas Nothelle, uge 50, 2015

Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
PC Brief Week 50, 2015
This week, there were meetings of the Permanent Council (PC), the Forum for Security Co-
operation, a joint meeting of the Second and Third Committees on “Business and Human
Rights” and an Expert Meeting on “Internet in Open Journalism”. In addition, the candidates
for the succession of Dunja Mijatovic as OSCE Representative on the Freedom of the Media
presented their candidacies in informal meetings.
The PC did not take decisions. It heard a report by the head of the OSCE monitoring teams
on two Russian-Ukrainian border checkpoints. This, as well as the related items under Cur-
rent Issues, resulted in the usual controversial discussions about the situation in and around
Ukraine. The same is true for a similar discussion in the Forum for Security Cooperation.
However, the Chairmanship is still making an effort to remedy parts of the dissatisfactory re-
sults – or rather non-results – of the Ministerial Council. The three draft decisions on Gender,
Migration, and Sustainable Development, which were close to a consensus, might be adopt-
ed during the Christmas Recess, which will start on December 21. At the same time, two
working weeks before the expiry of the deadline, there is still no consensus among participat-
ing States about the adoption of the 2016 budget.
The candidates for the succession of Dunja Mijatovic are Mads Andenas (Norway), Juan
Barata Mir (Spain), Roland Bless (Switzerland), Mogens Blicher Bjerregard (Denmark), Ag-
nes Callamard (France), Pavel Fischer (Czech Republic), Ranka Ivelja (Slovenia), Dainius
Radzevicius (Lithuania) and Ognian Zlatev (Bulgaria). The first round of hearings did not re-
sult in having one of them as a clear front-runner. Many of them have now been invited by
delegations for more intimate presentations. By December 21, delegations will have an op-
portunity to name three of the candidates as their favorites, in no particular order, in order to
prepare for the short list. As usual, the Chairmanship is supported by a “Group of Friends of
the Chair” composed of the Permanent Representatives of Iceland, Kazakhstan, Mongolia,
Montenegro, Netherlands. The mandate of the current candidate runs out March 11.
During the committee meeting on “Business and Human Rights”, the PA’s 2015 Helsinki
resolution on "Responsibility to Combat Human Trafficking in Government Contracts for
Good and Services" was mentioned as one of several OSCE tools regarding the topic.
The Expert Meeting on “Internet in Open Journalism” dealt with new forms of public debate
on the internet in the context of the principles of Freedom of the Media and Freedom of
Speech and Expression.
Andreas Nothelle
Ambassador
December 15, 2015
OSCEs Parlamentariske Forsamling 2015-16
OSCE Alm.del Bilag 11
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