OSCE PA Action on Ukraine

110322 WM debateOSCE parliamentarians discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine during a plenary session in Vienna on 24 February 2022.The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine took place the morning that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly met on the first day of its 21st Winter Meeting, with dozens of parliamentarians gathered at the OSCE headquarters in Vienna, and others joining online. At the opening plenary session on 24 February, 28 parliamentarians took the floor with most denouncing the incursion and expressing deep concern for the lives of civilians in Ukraine. Parliamentarians denounced the military operation as “indefensible” and a “gross violation of international law,” and reiterated the role of the OSCE in facilitating dialogue and building confidence.

But the response from OSCE parliamentarians on the morning of 24 February was not the first time that PA had taken up the issue of the crisis in and around Ukraine. Dating back to the events of early 2014, Ukraine has featured prominently in OSCE PA field activities, debates, public statements, and resolutions adopted at Annual Sessions. At the 2014 Baku Annual Session, the OSCE PA “condemn[ed] the clear, gross and uncorrected violation of the Helsinki principles by the Russian Federation with respect to Ukraine, including the particularly egregious violation of that country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The PA has also urged full implementation of the Minsk Agreements to end the conflict in the Donbas region.

As the situation deteriorited in early 2022, the PA's attention increasingly focused on how to support high-level discussions to resolve differences at the diplomatic table rather than through military action.

As OSCE PA President Margareta Cederfelt said in her written report submitted to the Standing Committee on 25 February, “For months now, the military build-up in and around Ukraine has dramatically escalated tensions in the OSCE region. On this issue, the position of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is clear and has been reiterated on numerous occasions since 2014. Our Declarations have consistently condemned violations of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and we have repeatedly called for a comprehensive settlement of the conflict based on a full implementation of the Minsk Agreements.”

In May 2022 OSCE PA President Margareta Cederfelt appointed Vice-President Reinhold Lopatka as the Assembly’s Special Representative for Parliamentary Dialogue on Ukraine. The appointment was announced on 11 May at an OSCE PA webinar devoted to the Russian war in Ukraine, at which President Cederfelt emphasized that it is important to use all available tools in bringing the war to an end, including parliamentary diplomacy.

A delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly comprising President Margareta Cederfelt (MP, Sweden) Vice-President Reinhold Lopatka (MP, Austria), Chair of the economic and environmental committee Pere Joan Pons (MP, Spain), Special Representative Kari Henriksen (MP, Norway), and OSCE PA Secretary General Roberto Montella visited Ukraine on 28 June 2022.

The heads of national OSCE PA delegations established a new committee to more effectively co-ordinate support for Ukraine on 30 June 2023 during the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s 30th Annual Session in Vancouver, Canada.

The objective of the new ad hoc committee, which was unanimously adopted upon proposal of the Ukrainian Delegation to the Assembly, will be to ensure that the war remains at the forefront of the PA’s activities and that Ukraine’s needs are fully considered by the Assembly.

 

OSCE PA Action on Ukraine 2014-2023

OSCE PA Action on Ukraine 2014-2023

For videos on OSCE PA debates since the latest escalation of hostilities, please see below:

Fifth Call for Action - Helsinki+50 meeting: The role of the OSCE in addressing the war in Ukraine and its consequences, 19 October 2022

Fourth Call for Action - Helsinki+50 meeting: The role of the OSCE in addressing the war in Ukraine and its consequences, 7 September 2022

Third Call for Action - Helsinki+50 meeting: The role of the OSCE in addressing the war in Ukraine and its consequences, 22 June 2022

Call for Action - Helsinki+50 follow-up meeting: The role of the OSCE in addressing the war in Ukraine and its consequences, 11 May 2022

Call for Action – Helsinki +50 meeting: The role of the OSCE in addressing the conflict in Ukraine and its consequences, 23 March 2022

 

Extraordinary meeting of the Standing Committee on the situation in Ukraine, 11 March 2022

 

Remarks by SG Roberto Montella at the Extraordinary Meeting of the Standing Committee, 11 March 2022

  

OSCE parliamentarians discuss situation in Ukraine at PA's Winter Meeting in Vienna, 24 Feb. 2022

 

Meeting of the Standing Committee, OSCE PA Winter Meeting, Vienna, 24 February 2022

 

For the OSCE PA's actions and statements please see below:

Highlights from Meetings

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