Full text of Hamburg Declaration of incoming OSCE Troika

The 23rd Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) concluded here Friday with the issuing of a declaration of the incoming OSCE Troika, namely Germany, Austria and Italy. The following is the full text of the declaration.

Hamburg Declaration of the incoming OSCE Troika: A Strong OSCE for a Secure Europe

The OSCE has proven itself to be a key forum for ensuring security in Europe and strengthening cooperation among practically all countries of the northern hemisphere. However, the conflict in and around Ukraine has made very clear that adherence to international law and to our common principles and commitments can no longer be taken for granted. We are deeply concerned by the challenges to our common principles and commitments, which remain the bedrock of our common security.

There can be no sustainable peace in the OSCE area without full respect for our comprehensive security concept. Working to achieve an effective multilateralism, we rely on an organization that places common values and fundamental freedoms and human rights at the heart of the European security order. These are the pillars of our security.

We should draw today on our organization's historical experience and bear in mind its instrumental role in maintaining dialogue in times of acute division. The OSCE deserves full support from all participating States to contribute to renewed security in Europe. As a consensus-based organization, it provides a unique forum for ensuring that everyone's voice is heard in an exchange within an increasingly heterogeneous community of States.

It is therefore our firm conviction that we must promote an OSCE that is owned and supported by all of its participating States. The OSCE requires an agenda for the future. We, the members of the incoming OSCE Troika, invite all OSCE participating States to continue to work jointly along the following five lines of action:

1. A solid platform for dialogue: expanding channels of communication

The OSCE has proven its worth as a platform for dialogue across dividing lines. Dialogue must take place among political leaders and include opportunities for informal exchange. Innovative and high-level encounters such as informal meetings of Ministers, for example in Potsdam on September 1, 2016, high-level political attendance of conferences with our Partners for Cooperation and informal discussions among Ministers focusing on specific topics (including those organised on the margins of U.N. General Assembly in New York or during OSCE Ministerial Councils) provide a good basis to this end. Parliamentary representatives, youth, civil society, academia and the business community should be included in our discussions, to re-invigorate discussions within the OSCE and to make best use of the OSCE's convening power.

We must put the OSCE at the core of multilateral diplomacy in Europe once again and keep political channels of communication open, not least in challenging times.

2. Progress for peace: investing in sustainable conflict resolution

Conflicts and divisions are overshadowing the security order in Europe and affecting the lives of far too many people. The core objective of the OSCE -- as the biggest regional arrangement under Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations -- remains to prevent the outbreak of violent conflict and to work towards sustainable solutions for existing conflicts within the OSCE area.

Conflicts must be resolved in a peaceful and negotiated manner, within agreed formats, applying agreed principles equally, and in full observance of the UN Charter, OSCE principles and commitments and international law. Our shared aim must be to bring about an end to any violations of these fundamental principles.

Mindful in particular of the lessons learned from the OSCE's response to the conflict in and around Ukraine, concrete steps are needed for the OSCE to adapt to new challenges of multidimensional and often complex conflict situations. We must therefore continue to develop the OSCE's instruments along the entire conflict cycle and not lose sight of the urgent need to improve conditions on the ground for those affected by conflict.

3. Greater security for all: reviving CSBM and conventional arms control in Europe

Confidence and security-building measures and arms control continue to play a fundamental role in ensuring predictability, reducing military risks and restoring security in Europe.

We regard the necessary modernization of the Vienna Document and a substantial re-launch of conventional arms control as mutually reinforcing with a view to the wider politico-military context.

We are committed to launching a structured dialogue on security and arms control.

4. New challenges, renewed cooperation: setting our common agenda

Our States and societies are facing an unprecedented number of new global challenges -- which by their nature cannot be tackled by individual participating States acting alone.

It is therefore vital to continue to seek common responses within the OSCE to challenges such as terrorism, radicalisation and violent extremism, as well as cyber security, migration, hate crimes and issues relating to ensuring tolerance and non-discrimination. These challenges can only be mastered jointly, in full respect for the rule of law and fundamental human rights.

Cooperation in the economic and environmental spheres can also support confidence-building, stability and security in the OSCE region.

Important work on these issues is already under way within the OSCE. We must build on these efforts -- enlarging and deepening the common agenda for our organization. We must face common challenges together, and our common agenda consists of all dimensions of security.

5. Our organization, our responsibility: enabling the OSCE to deliver

The OSCE can only be as strong as the totality of its participating States allows it to be.

We therefore encourage all participating States to live up to their responsibility towards our common organization and to work together for the shared ownership for the OSCE -- by providing sufficient financial resources, strong political support and competent staff, as well as by supporting field missions, respecting and promoting the mandates of our autonomous institutions and, last but not least, by ensuring continuity of their leadership.

We must also expand and deepen dialogue and cooperation with other international organization's and our partners, in particular those of the Mediterranean region, as well as strengthen the legal framework of the OSCE and improve its budgetary procedure with a view to enabling longer-term planning.

The better we invest in the OSCE, the greater the service the organization can provide for us all -- the 57 OSCE participating States, partners and their populations. We owe this to them. Endit