MONACO, 9 July 2012 – Parliamentarians from Europe, Central Asia and North America approved a political declaration that recommends clear plans of action for governments, parliaments and the world's largest regional security organization, the OSCE, to address human rights, military transparency and the global economic crisis, OSCE PA press service reports.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly Monaco Declaration demands the release of all political prisoners and calls for countries leading the OSCE to "set the standard" on human rights. The Assembly focused considerable attention on the situation in Ukraine, which takes over as chair of the OSCE in January 2013.
On the economic front, the Monaco Declaration calls on national governments to increase green investments to encourage economic growth and warns against the long term negative impact of continued austerity measures.
The Declaration, which helps shape OSCE and national policy, also called for updating the Vienna Document that governs how militaries should share information. The Monaco Declaration calls for increasing confidence building measures and transparency among states by lowering the thresholds at which they must inform each other of their military exercises.
Members overwhelmingly supported a measure centered on the case of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky that called onparliaments to ban visas and freeze assets for human rights abusers. The Assembly passed 25 resolutions that ranged from seeking a diplomatic solution to questions about Iran's nuclear programme to seeking new ways to co-operate with budding democratic institutions in the Arab World.
The Annual Session concluded with the election of Riccardo Migliori as president – the first Italian parliamentarian to hold the Assembly's top office. Members also elected five vice-presidents to fill vacancies or expired terms: Robert Aderholt (United States), Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco), Alain Neri (France), George Tsereteli (Georgia), and Uta Zapf (Germany).
The full declaration and resolutions are available at www.oscepa.org.
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is comprised of 320 parliamentarians from 55 countries spanning, Europe, Central Asia and North America. The Assembly provides a forum for parliamentary diplomacy, monitors elections, and strengthens international cooperation to uphold commitments on political, security, economic, environmental and human rights issues.