UK acknowledges important work of OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d like to thank Ambassador Yrjölä for her comprehensive and timely report on the activities of the Conflict Prevention Centre (CPC).

I think we can all agree that 2021 has followed 2020 in posing immense challenges for the entire OSCE region as we continue to face complex and continuing crises.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created profound challenges for us all. We appreciate the contingency planning support and advice you have provided to field operations, and we join you in conveying our sincere condolences to the families and friends of those we have lost to the virus.

We are particularly grateful for the support you have provided to the Special Monitoring Mission in this regard. We welcome the CPC report “A Peaceful Presence: The First Five Years of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine” and the best practice which will be drawn from it. The Special Monitoring Mission fulfils a vital role, providing impartial, facts-based reporting to the international community about the security situation on the ground. CPC support on reporting, dialogue facilitation, internal early warning, technological monitoring and information management, and on further improving the alignment of management, operations and security, is invaluable. We appreciate too your support first to Ambassador Grau and now to Ambassador Kinnunen, and the coordinators of the Trilateral Contact Group Working Groups in their pursuit of a peaceful resolution of the conflict in full respect of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. This will be all the more important as we work to close the Border Observation Mission at the checkpoints in Gukovo and Donetsk.

We also value the support you provide to OSCE field operations elsewhere in our region. Your continued advice and support on project and programme management, including monitoring and evaluation, should help colleagues in these missions make even better use of their resources to support host countries to fulfil their OSCE commitments. We note in particular the important role which you have been playing in respect to the situation in Afghanistan. We look forward to hearing more about the assistance which OSCE might offer to support regional security both in the immediate neighbourhood and further afield.

We welcome the work which the CPC has done to further strengthen the Conflict cycle toolbox in the year which marks the 10th anniversary of the Ministerial Council decision on “Elements of the Conflict cycle”. We look forward to engaging constructively in negotiations led by the chair at the upcoming Ministerial Council on a decision on further strengthening OSCE capabilities in addressing the conflict cycle. The particular attention to the meaningful participation of women and civil society at all levels and in all phases of the conflict cycle is valuable. Mainstreaming a gender perspective into OSCE activities is another vital way to enhance their effectiveness. It means we have a greater understanding of how issues affect men and women differently and therefore can better tailor our responses to them.

The UK highly values the tools provided by the Conflict Prevention Centre on early warning, including through its work as the organisation wide focal point and the monitoring provided by its round-the-clock Situation Centre, on early action, on conflict resolution and on conflict prevention. We support your plan to strengthen these tools further. However, we recognise that all this support and all these resources, can only be as effective as we, the participating States, allow them to be. We must all demonstrate the political will to use these resources and to fully implement the OSCE principles and commitments that underpin comprehensive security for all our citizens.

The CPC has again provided invaluable support to the Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) this year. We remain concerned that OSCE’s politico-military acquis continues to be undermined by partial and non-compliance. We want to see these conventional arms control and confidence and security building measures (CSBM) agreements function to their full potential, to the benefit of all participating States, including through long-overdue Vienna document modernisation. We continue to value the Structured Dialogue as an added value forum to discuss current and future challenges and risks to security in the OSCE area.

We thank you and your team for your significant contribution to the overall work of the OSCE.