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<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <title>MR. AXWORTHY - ADDRESS TO A MINISTERIAL MEETING OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND CO-OPERATION IN EUROPE - COPENHAGEN, DENMARK</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> 97/61 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE LLOYD AXWORTHY, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TO A MINISTERIAL MEETING OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND CO-OPERATION IN EUROPE COPENHAGEN, Denmark December 18, 1997 This document is also available on the Department's Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca Before I begin my remarks, let me first thank Foreign Minister Petersen for his sterling work as Chairman-in-Office over the course of this year, and the Danish government for hosting us with such warmth and, at the same time, such efficiency. Over the past year the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] has faced and taken up many daunting challenges, in the Balkans, in the Caucasus, in Central Asia and elsewhere. In Bosnia the OSCE has much to be proud of, including our work on elections, on human rights and democratic governance, and on confidence- and security-building measures and arms control. These initiatives are important in themselves and as lessons for co-operative action elsewhere. But much remains to be done. Efforts to create a stable, multi-ethnic state continue to be hampered by the Bosnian parties themselves, and by the presence of persons indicted for war crimes who are in positions of influence. I believe that the work of the War Crimes Tribunal is fundamental to bringing a sense of justice to the Bosnian people and to prospects for a lasting reconciliation. For that reason, Canada will provide a package of further assistance to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, including $600 000 to support the Tribunal's ability to conduct trials and investigate mass graves. Our work in Bosnia must continue, for the upcoming elections and beyond. But at the same time we should recognize that it is only the most visible example of the new and broader international challenges that face us. With the end of the Cold War, the threat of major conflicts between states has diminished. Military spending in some states has dropped radically, as have global military sales. Increasingly, danger lies in internal conflicts within states. Threats to human security -- human rights abuses, inter-ethnic tension, poverty, environmental degradation, the drug trade and terrorism -- have grown, fuelling recurring cycles of violence. Civilians are their primary victims. In these circumstances, to safeguard individual citizens, it is no longer enough to ensure the security of the nation. Security is found in the conditions of daily life -- in food, shelter, arable land, health, economic well-being, political franchise and safety of the person -- rather than primarily in the military strength of the state. Only the OSCE has a mandate broad enough to meet this challenge. First, more needs to be done to sharpen the OSCE's efforts to address regional conflict and instability through conflict prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict rehabilitation -- in other words, peace building. This will require concerted effort to construct a security model, including a "platform for security co-operation," that can bear the weight, not only of our expectations, but also of the challenges that lie ahead. In Canada's view, this work should focus on three related areas: implementation and follow-up to the landmines convention signed two weeks ago in Ottawa; tackling the proliferation of small arms; and conflict prevention, through, amongst other things, promoting human rights and good governance. These areas require urgent attention if we are to promote not only the security of states, but also that of individual citizens. One hundred and twenty-two countries signed the International Convention on the Prohibition and Destruction of Anti-Personnel Landmines, including 36 OSCE participating states; and others are sympathetic to its objectives. We hope -- indeed, we anticipate -- that others will soon join us in signing and ratifying the convention. And we welcome all states to join in the second phase of our campaign against landmines, particularly in the work of demining and victim assistance. The signing of the convention on anti-personnel mines represents a beginning, not an end. Much work lies ahead of us in terms of entry-into-force, universalization and implementation, including demining and victim assistance. We will all have to devote resources -- to demining, mine awareness and victim assistance in mine-affected countries like Bosnia, to technical assistance so other signatories can live up to their obligations under the convention -- if we are to rid the world of the scourge of these terrible weapons. Canada has committed $100 million over five years to this work, and other nations have been equally generous. We look forward to working within the OSCE to address the landmines challenge in the most effective, sustained way possible. In this context I am pleased to note the Forum for Security Co-operation's recent decision to circulate an annual landmines questionnaire. The importance of gathering basic data on the scope of the problem was stressed repeatedly in the discussions surrounding the signature ceremony for the convention. I see the landmines campaign as a defining moment in international relations, in that it demonstrated that a full partnership between states and non-governmental organizations [NGOs] can produce major results that neither side can achieve alone. Each brought its comparative advantages to the process -- the NGOs mobilizing public opinion, and governments providing political will and resources. It is a model the OSCE should consider applying to other issues such as small arms, conflict prevention and human rights, not as some sort of "feel good" diplomacy, but because it is a diplomatic approach that works. To that end, I want to explore how Canada's Peacebuilding Fund can assist the OSCE in developing new civil society partnerships. Small arms tend to fall through the net of traditional disarmament measures, and thus continue to wreak untold damage on civilian populations. The uncontrolled proliferation of small arms in Albania, Chechnya and Tajikistan, as well as the presence of large stocks of munitions, including landmines in Moldova and elsewhere, have a regional destabilizing impact. The Organization of American States is doing important work in this area, including its work on a recently signed convention on illegal trafficking in firearms and other weapons. I would propose that the OSCE consider taking up similar work within its own region, building on its existing convention on the transfer of conventional weapons. The OSCE has important assets in its continuing work on conflict prevention and the promotion of human rights and democratic development: the High Commissioner on National Minorities, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and the Conflict Prevention Centre. Canada will continue to support the OSCE's efforts in conflict prevention. We will shortly be sending a police adviser to the OSCE mission in Croatia, to develop the first civilian police monitoring program ever carried out by the OSCE. A second challenge, in my view, lies in securing greater compliance with OSCE commitments, commitments whose political character links them directly to peace and stability in our region. OSCE missions are important, indeed vital, but they are not enough. We need to strengthen the application of the OSCE's instruments and develop new ones where necessary. We need to build on and sharpen the focus of the Prague mechanism. Above all, we need to develop a consensus on how to deal in a nuanced fashion with instances of clear, gross and uncorrected violations, and continued lack of co-operation. In this context, we call on Bosnia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to fulfil without delay their OSCE obligations. The OSCE has a vital role to play in adapting our existing security instruments to the 21st century. For this reason we welcome the decision to conduct a review of the Vienna Document next year. We also welcome the important work under way on adapting the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe. I would note also that the Open Skies Treaty has still not entered into force, and call on all those who have not yet ratified to do so without delay. To address regional conflict and instability effectively, the OSCE must be strengthened -- through improved compliance with commitments and obligations, through more meaningful involvement in decision making by all participating states, through a non-hierarchical framework for co-operation among European security organizations, and through powerful new alliances with civil society. The OSCE is a work in progress. It is evolving to meet the new demands placed on it in changing times. Let us work to give it the tools to continue evolving, so that it renews its relevance and effectiveness as we approach the new century. Thank you. </body> </html>

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