Vienna mechanism
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The Vienna Mechanism, established in 1989, is a confidence and security-building measure among the 57 participating States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It precedes the Moscow Mechanism, adopted in 1991.:[1] The two tools together constitute the so-called Human Dimension Mechanisms.[2]
Functioning[edit]
The Vienna Mechanism allows participating States to raise issues relating to the human dimension situation in other OSCE States. Compared to the subsequent Moscow Mechanism, it does not provide for the additional possibility for participating States to set up ad hoc missions of independent experts on the territory of the participating States.
Within the framework of the Mechanism, the participating States, recalling their commitments undertaken in the Final Act and other CSCE documents concerning respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, human contacts and related humanitarian issues, have decided to:[3]
- exchange information and responding to requests for information and issues raised by other participating States on matters relating to the human dimension of the CSCE;
- hold bilateral meetings with other participating States upon request, in order to consider questions related to the human dimension of the CSCE, including specific situations and cases, with a view to resolving them;
- allow any participating State to introduce situations and cases as related to the human dimension of the CSCE, including those that have been raised bilaterally;
- allow any participating State to provide information on exchanges of information, responses to requests for information and outcomes of bilateral meetings at meetings of the Human Dimension Conference as well as at the main CSCE Follow-up Meeting.
In 1990, at the CSCE Human Dimension Conference in Copenhagen, the participating States recognized the need to further improve the effectiveness of the procedures described above and, to this end, decided to [4]
- to provide as soon as possible, and in any case no later than four weeks, a written response to requests for information and to statements made to them in writing by others
participating states;
- to refrain, during the aforementioned bilateral meetings, from raising situations and cases unconnected with the object of the meeting, unless both parties agree;
- that bilateral meetings, at the request of participating States, will take place as soon as possible, usually within three weeks of the date of the request.
They also considered proposals related to sending observers to examine specific situations and cases, appointing rapporteurs to investigate and suggest appropriate solutions, creating a Commission on the human dimension of the CSCE, a greater involvement of people, organizations and institutions in the mechanism of the human dimension.[3]
Activations of the Vienna Mechanism[edit]
From January 1989, the date of adoption of the Mechanism, until the adoption of the Copenhagen Document in October 1990, 115 cases reached phase I of the Mechanism (request for information) and in another 17 cases the remaining phases were activated.[3] Three further activations took place between October 1990 and October 1991, when the Moscow Mechanism was adopted. Since then, the Mechanism has implied provisions contained in both the Vienna and Moscow Documents, including the possibility of sending missions of experts or rapporteurs to investigate the situation at stake. In 1999 the Vienna Mechanism was invoked together with the Moscow Mechanism in connection with the NATO military operation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.[5]
Subsequently, the Mechanism was activated:
- on August 30, 2018 in relation to ongoing serious human rights violations in Chechnya by the Russian Federation;[6]
- on 4 November 2021 in relation to ongoing serious human rights violations in Belarus and the exploitation of illegal migration.[7]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Vienna mechanism" (PDF). osce.org. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ↑ "Human dimension mechanisms". osce.org. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Human dimension mechanisms" (PDF). osce.org. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ↑ "Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference of the Human Dimension of the CSCE" (PDF). osce.org. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
- ↑ "Helsinki Commission Report. The Moscow Mechanism" (PDF). csce.gov. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
- ↑ "Invokation of Vienna Mechanism in Chechnya". swedenabroad.se. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ↑ "Invokation of Vienna Mechanism in Belarus". gov.uk. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
External links[edit]
- "OSCE/ODIHR - The OSCE Human dimension mechanisms". Retrieved 9 September 2022.
- "Helsinki Commission - The OSCE Moscow Mechanism in Brief" (PDF). Retrieved 9 September 2022.
- "CSCE Vienna Follow-Up Meeting - A Framework for Europe's Future". Retrieved 30 November 2022.
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