Kazakhstan and OSCE

1. Kazakhstan and OSCE

2.

3.

• Summits
• Ministerial Council
• Permanent Council

4. Political-Military Dimension

• Arms control
• Border management
• Combating terrorism
• Conflict prevention

5. Economic and Environmental Dimension

• combating corruption
• migration management
• transport and energy security
• water management

6. Human Dimension

• Democratization
• Education
• Elections
• Gender equality
• Human rights
• Media freedom

7. OSCE: aims today

• Conflict prevention;
• Crisis regulation;
• Post-conflict rehabilitation;
• Euro-Atlantic and Euro-Asian
dialogue.

8. KZ and OSCE: history

- C (Council) SCE: one of the most
important organizations of the 20th century;
- One of the aims was to prevent threats in
Europe;
- The initiative belonged to the USSR in
1950 (tried to enforce the territorial
changes in Europe after WW2).

9. KZ and OSCE: history

- 1960: the members of Warsaw Treaty
agreed to participate;
- 1969: the members of NATO agreed as
well, but under the conditions:
a) membership of the USA and
Canada;
b) confirmation of the legal status
of Berlin;
c) added issues on human rights.

10. KZ and OSCE: history

• The end of Cold War brought transformation
of the European Security concept.
• Thus, CSCE needed a reform;
• An idea of CSCE to become a “European
UNO”
• Results: a) 1994 – renaming to
O(organization) SCE;
b) from regional to international status;
c) membership: from 35 to 56 states
(collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia) +
“partners”.

11. KZ and OSCE: Problems in the 1990s

Some expressed a doubt on Central Asian
members:
1) how the decision making will go?
2) Theoretically all members have the VETO
right;
• But there were more advantages:
West and Russian could control the defense policy
of large territories.
Result: 1992 all USSR republics (except of
Georgia) were included.

12. KZ initial aims in OSCE

• 1992: recognition;
• A “gateway” to cooperation with European
states;
• Initiation of CICA - Conference on
Interaction and Confidence Measures in
Asia (СВМДА);
• To establish the institutions of human
rights in KZ;
• To organize IGOs and NGOs.

13. KZ and OSCE: facts

1. 1994: “Memo on Kazakhstani security
Guarantees”:
- (3 official nuclear states: the USA, Russia,
Britain) settled a collective duty to provide
sovereignty, territorial unity, and freedom of KZ;
2. 1995: regional Bureau of OSCE in Tashkent
(with KZ representation);
3. 1998-1999: Three (3) more Centers of OSCE
were opened: Almaty, Bishkek, Ashkhabad.

14. KZ and OSCE: facts

Activities:
- Ombudsmen Institution establishment;
- Consultancy and observation of KZ
legislation (especially elections);
- KZ Legal System reforming;
- Seminars on “Women in Political Life”.

15. KZ and OSCE: events

• 1999: Istanbul OSCE summit;
• 2003: OSCE Strategy on security and
stability;
• 2003: first idea to put KZ as a chairmanship
in future;
• 2007: OSCE Center moved to Astana;
• 2007-2008: meetings on political/economic
reforms, institutions, ecology, human rights,
mass media/freedom of speech; culture.

16. KZ and OSCE: Leadership of 2010

• In 2009 in Vienna K. Tokayev presented a President’s
project “Path to Europe”:
• efforts to create the conditions for development of the
democracy institutions within OSCE;
• development of transit-transport potential of OSCE
member states and Eurasian transport corridors;
• preventing environmental degradation;
• enhancing confidence measures and regional security
taking into account the contribution of Kazakhstan to
the preserving of peace, security and nuclear nonproliferation;
• strengthening of non-military dimension of security in
OSCE activities, namely, counter-terrorism, counterextremism, fight against organized crime, drug
trafficking, human trafficking, smuggling and illegal
migration;
• rehabilitation of Afghanistan.

17. KZ and OSCE: Leadership of 2010

*2010: KZ in OSCE – achievement or
challenge?
Good things:
a) 1st Turkic state;
b) Large Muslim population;
c) 1st CIS state.

18. KZ and OSCE: Leadership of 2010

2010: KZ in OSCE – achievement or
challenge?
Difficulties:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
Economic crisis;
“Corfu Process”;
Active and potential conflict zones;
Specific attention to Afghanistan;
35th Anniversary of OSCE;
69th Anniversary of WW2 Victory;
Planned Conference of Tolerance in Astana – 2010;
Summit of OSCE – 2010.

19. KZ and OSCE: Leadership of 2010

What was expected from KZ as a chairman
in OSCE?:
Speech of K. Saudabayev January, 26th,
2010 in Brussels during the Ministry
Meeting of OSCE-EU:
1. Coordination.
2. K. Saudabayev: the formula of 4 ‘T’s :
trust, traditions, transparency, tolerance;

20. KZ and OSCE: Leadership of 2010

• Another Kazakhstan’s priority for the OSCE
could be reinforcing the developing transit and
transportation corridors linking the Central Asian
countries with one another and other OSCE
members.
• Kazakhstan had to play a role in shaping the
OSCE’s new initiative, launched at the Madrid
summit, to curb the trafficking of drugs,
weapons, and people across the Afghan-Tajik
border. The two processes of economic
integration and border security are intimately
related.

21. OSCE: discussion points

1. Diversity of membership (nuclear powers
(5) + states-members of other
organizations;
2. difficult period: 2 ‘ideologies’ clash:
a) “liberals” and “pragmatists”;
3. OSCE is the only place for Europe and
Asia to meet (it is symbolic that KZ is
leader);

22. OSCE: discussion points

4) New conflict in Caucasus;
5) Long period of “cold” relations between
Moscow and Washington (possible change
might come with B. Obama);
6) American rocket system in Europe: lots of
disputes;
7) A destiny of the European Military Force
Treaty (Russia came out);

23. OSCE: discussion points

8) West will sense the growing economy of
China and India;
9) “European” security is no longer
European (it was that 40 years ago);
10) European energy security;
11) Dispute over the functions and authority
of the OSCE Organization for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) –
“Russian Factor”

24. The “Russian factor” and the issue of Kazakhstan's chairmanship in the OSCE

• Russia, as well as other post-soviet countries, played a crucial
role in supporting of Kazakhstan’s presidency in OSCE. Thus,
Astana attained a collective mandate from CIS countries to
protect their interests in the OSCE.
• First of all, Moscow considers the OSCE should be reformed
and its main structures (the ODIHR, Representative on Freedom
of the Media, and the field missions, which are quite
independent in their work), would be under the Organization’s
Permanent Council in Vienna strict control. Moscow also
insisted on the consensus procedure and the right of veto for
all member states.
• Moscow was also proposing giving the OSCE the status of a
legal entity, adopting the organization’s Charter, and unifying
the standard procedures for managing its operations and
institutions.

25. Summit in Astana

• By the decision of the Ministerial Council of the
OSCE members it was stated that the Summit of the
organization takes place on December 1-2, 2010, in
Astana, after a long pause lasted for eleven years.
One of the initial aims of the Summit, as defined
by Kazakhstani authorities was “the identification of
the strategic directions of the OSCE development”,
as well as the issues of Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian
security.
• However, many observers emphasized the
significance of the Summit in Astana within the
context of Central Asian security challenges, raised
recently with the sudden dramatic events in
Kyrgyzstan.

26. Summit’s objectives:

The OSCE Summit agenda also included the following
objectives:
• to overcome the crisis of the OSCE organization and
revive its importance, as well as to widen the
dimensions of the organization;
• to support the initiative of the nuclear -free
declaration and its adoption;
• to support and use the experience Kazakhstan in the
World Traditional Religions Congress for interconfessional dialogue activities within the security
frames.

27. Summit:

• Summit clearly revealed some disputable aspects
among the states-members:
• The conflict in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan,
Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan raised high polemics of
experts during the Summit discussions. Moreover, it
was proposed by several leaders to significantly
reform and “recharge” the organization itself to
increase its effectiveness and response to the
existing and new coming challenges.
One of the final aims of the OSECE Summit in
Astana was signing the historical document of
Astana Declaration “Towards the Community of
Security”. The process of adoption of the document,
affected by the intensive discussions of the experts,
lasted for almost ten hours and ended up with
signing of the final version.