{"id":798,"date":"2020-12-03T03:22:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T03:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=131186"},"modified":"2020-12-03T03:22:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T03:22:01","slug":"osce-expected-to-overcome-leadership-vacuum-at-ministerial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/03\/osce-expected-to-overcome-leadership-vacuum-at-ministerial\/","title":{"rendered":"OSCE Expected To Overcome Leadership Vacuum At Ministerial"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img src=\"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/e9bd97a5-44d0-40f9-8a94-e3a01774730e_w1200_r1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"wsw\">\n<p>The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is expected to resolve a months-long impasse over the conflict-resolution body\u2019s leadership team during a two-day ministerial meeting on December 3 and 4.<\/p>\n<p>Originally established during the Cold War to foster dialogue between the Soviet Union and the West, the 57-nation OSCE is known for its election monitoring work, reports on human rights and press freedom, and engaging in diplomacy to resolve conflicts, including in Ukraine, Belarus, and Nagorno-Karabakh.<\/p>\n<p>Since July, the OSCE&#8217;s top four positions have been empty because member states failed to renew the three-year terms of diplomats in those posts, in what is normally a formality.<\/p>\n<p>The Vienna-based organization strives to reach decisions by consensus, leaving is susceptible to gridlock between its European, Central Asian, and North American member states.<\/p>\n<p>Russia and several former Soviet states have complained top leadership positions have traditionally been held by Westerners, who they say have focused too much on human rights issues.<\/p>\n<p>Under a compromise, OSCE members are expected to approve Helga Schmid as the new secretary-general.<\/p>\n<p>A German, Schmid currently serves as secretary-general of the EU&#8217;s diplomatic service. She is best known for playing a key role in negotiating the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.<\/p>\n<p>The other three top posts will be filled by an Italian, Portuguese, and Kazakh.<\/p>\n<p>Matteo Mecacci, a former Italian parliamentarian, has been nominated to head the OSCE&#8217;s democracy, human rights, and election monitoring office.<\/p>\n<p>Former Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov has been tapped as OSCE high commissioner for minorities.<\/p>\n<p>Maria Teresa Ribeiro, a secretary of state in the Portuguese Foreign Ministry, is the nominee for the OSCE media freedom representative.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE, James Gilmore, said on December 1 that he expects member states to agree on filling the top four positions with these candidates.<\/p>\n<p>However, an unrelated dispute between Hungary and Ukraine over national minority issues has emerged in recent days that as a potential to create problems, he said.<\/p>\n<h6 class=\"wsw__h6\"><\/h6>\n<p>With reporting by AFP, dpa, die Presse, and Reuters.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/2020\/12\/03\/osce-expected-to-overcome-leadership-vacuum-at-ministerial\/\">Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is expected to resolve a months-long impasse over the conflict-resolution body\u2019s leadership team during a two-day ministerial meeting on\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[332,4,24,376],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":799,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798\/revisions\/799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}