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PARLIAMENTARY PERSPECTIVE ON SECURITY AND 

COOPERATION IN TODAY’S EUROPE 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND 

COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

OCTOBER 18, 2007 

Printed for the use of the 

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe 

[CSCE 110–1–8] 

( 

Available via http://www.csce.gov 

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS 

HOUSE SENATE 

ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida, 

Chairman 

LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER, 

New York 

MIKE McINTYRE, North Carolina 

HILDA L. SOLIS, California 

G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama 

JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania 

MIKE PENCE, Indiana 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland, 

Co-Chairman 

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin 

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut 

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York 

JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts 

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas 

GORDON SMITH, Oregon 

SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia 

RICHARD BURR, North Carolina 

EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS 

VACANT, Department of State 

VACANT, Department of Defense 

VACANT, Department of Commerce 

(II) 

PARLIAMENTARY PERSPECTIVE ON SECURITY 

AND COOPERATION IN TODAY’S EUROPE 

OCTOBER 18, 2007 

COMMISSIONERS 

Page 

Hon. Alcee L. Hastings, Chairman, Commission on Security 

and Cooperation in Europe ..................................................... 1 

Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, Co-Chairman, Commission on 

Security and Cooperation in Europe ...................................... 3 

Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Ranking Member, Commission 

on Security and Cooperation in Europe ................................. 10 

Hon. Mike McIntyre, Commissioner, Commission on Security 

and Cooperation in Europe ..................................................... 5 

Hon. Hilda L. Solis, Commissioner, Commission on Security 

and Cooperation in Europe ..................................................... 4 

Hon. G.K. Butterfield, Commissioner, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe .............................................. 11 

WITNESSES 

Go ̈ran Lennmarker, President, Parliamentary Assembly of 

the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe .. 5 

APPENDICES 

Prepared statement of Hon. Alcee L. Hastings ........................ 18 

Prepared statement of Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin .................... 20 

Prepared statement of Hon. Christopher H. Smith ................. 21 

Prepared statement of Go ̈ran Lennmarker ............................... 22 

(III) 

(1) 

PARLIAMENTARY PERSPECTIVE ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN TODAY’S EUROPE 

October 18, 2007 

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE

WASHINGTON, DC 

[The hearing was held at 9:30 a.m. in room B–318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC, Hon. Alcee L. Hastings, Chairman, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, presiding. 

Commissioners present: Hon. Alcee L. Hastings, Chairman, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe; Hon. Benjamin L. 

Cardin, Co-Chairman, Commission on Security and Cooperation in 

Europe; Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Ranking Member, Commission 

on Security and Cooperation in Europe; Hon. Mike McIntyre, Commissioner, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe; 

Hon. Hilda L. Solis, Commissioner, Commission on Security and 

Cooperation in Europe; and Hon. G.K. Butterfield, Commissioner, 

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. 

Witnesses present: Go ̈ran Lennmarker, President, Parliamentary 

Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. 

HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS, CHAIRMAN, COMMISSION ON 

SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

Mr. HASTINGS. Well, it’s 9:30 by the clock, Mr. President, and in 

an effort to make sure that we are expeditious, I’d like to convene 

this morning’s hearing. 

And this morning we’re going to hear a parliamentary perspective on security and cooperation in Europe. Our witness is a personal friend of mine, Go ̈ran Lennmarker, a Swedish parliamentarian and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the 

Riksdag, as well as my successor as President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. 

While the role of parliamentarian in the Helsinki process goes 

back almost to the beginning with the creation of the Helsinki 

Commission, the U.S. Congress has played an enormous role in 

shaping U.S. OSCE policy while combining regional and diplomatic 

expertise with the political capital Members of Congress have. 

Over the years many countries expressed interest in emulating 

the Commission in their own national parliaments, but the creation 

of the 320-member OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has served a 

2 

similar purpose. It has created groups within parliaments who are 

knowledgeable about OSCE issues and willing to keep the diplomats moving forward. 

As we see today, however, these issues are not necessarily easy. 

Commissioner Solis, please come up. 

The challenges in U.S. and European relations with Russia are 

growing, for example, while Russia’s internal development is a 

cause for deep concern. 

Numerous local and regional conflicts which erupted in the 

1990’s continue to simmer. People continue to suffer the effects of 

these conflicts today, although they are rarely noticed, given the 

absence of widespread violence. The lives and well being of more 

people are at risk if political solutions are not found. 

In December, what many considered the last open question in 

the Balkans—the status of Kosovo—is expected to be answered. 

Unfortunately, there continues to be disagreement on what the answer should be, creating increased instability at a time when the 

whole region should be working on European integration. 

Despite their freely undertaken OSCE commitments, many 

OSCE states are behind in their democratic development and fail 

to respect basic human rights. Belarus comes to mind, Mr. President, along with some countries of Central Asia. On a wider scale, 

we continue to see manifestations of anti-Semitism, racism, and 

other forms of hatred and intolerance. 

And, of course, as we well know here in the United States, there 

are the challenges of protecting civil liberties and basic human 

rights at the same time we fight terrorism. As our witness today 

is aware, the president of the Belgian senate, our colleague Ann 

Marie Lizin, testified before this Commission earlier this year 

about her investigation of the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo 

Bay. 

Parliamentarians have an unquestionable role to play in responding to these issues. They know the workings of democracy 

and the threats democracy faces. They deal with people and have 

an understanding of how a society works. And through the OSCE 

Parliamentary Assembly and similar fora, they pool their experience and expertise to make Europe, the wider OSCE region and 

the world a better place. 

As we know, governments often resent parliamentarians holding 

them accountable, and diplomats can be very much like the governments they represent. As a result, there are institutional issues 

that come up in the OSCE, including the role of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, that unfortunately sidetrack us from real 

issues like the holding of free and fair elections, combating corruption or responding to conflict. 

I know that our witness today, my good friend Go ̈ran 

Lennmarker, will be addressing these questions regarding the situation in various parts of the OSCE region, as well as within the 

organization, and I very much look forward to hearing his views. 

Before we turn to you, President Lennmarker, I’d like for the CoChairman of the Commission, my good friend and used-to-be House 

of Representatives colleague Senator Cardin. 

3 

HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, CO-CHAIRMAN, COMMISSION ON 

SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Chairman, it’s good to be back at the House. It’s 

good to be back in this committee, where I spent many, many 

hours. This is one of the subcommittee rooms of the Ways and 

Means Committee, and I spent many an hour in this room, so it’s 

nice to be back. 

President Lennmarker, thank you for being here, but more importantly, thank you for your leadership in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. You are a very busy parliamentarian with very important responsibilities in your country, and yet you take time to 

lead the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. And I just really want to 

thank you personally for that. 

I felt the same with President Hastings and his commitment to 

international issues. I think it’s just so important. We all have so 

much responsibility in our own country, but what you’re doing in 

trying to make the world a little bit smaller and the effectiveness 

of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to me is extremely important, and I thank you for your commitment. 

It’s nice to have Spencer Oliver back. Spencer, as you know, 

started as a staff person here on the Hill, and we’re very proud of 

his work in creating the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly as a way 

in which parliamentarians can have major impact on legal issues. 

So we’re just very proud. 

This is my 21st year in the U.S. Congress, and I started my first 

year working on the Helsinki Commission. And shortly after coming to Congress, I became a Commissioner and worked on the Helsinki Commission issues. 

I’m very proud of what role the OSCE has played in the Human 

Dimension, on the Economic and Environmental Dimension, and 

also on the Security Dimension. It’s had major impact on getting 

Soviet Jews out of the Soviet Union. It had major impacts on initiating legislation in our states to deal with human trafficking— 

more recently, in dealing with the problems in anti-Semitism and 

discrimination issues and dealing with protecting the rights of the 

Roma population throughout the many countries in Europe. And 

the list goes on and on. 

And I’m proud of the work that we’ve done in helping countries 

fight corruption within their own countries and leading them to democracy. I’m proud of the role that our commission has played in 

initiating many of these matters, working with our friends from 

Europe. 

It’s been a good run. We’ve gotten a lot of things done, and the 

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly can be very proud of its important 

role within OSCE and within each of our individual states. 

I had the opportunity, as you know, to chair the second committee, which I found very rewarding, because I think the economic 

and environmental basket doesn’t quite get the same attention as 

the human rights dimension or security dimensions. And we were 

able to help countries that were really struggling in dealing with 

the economic issues. 

I think challenges for the future in dealing with corruption and 

dealing with energy are going to be critical issues that we have to 

confront in the OSCE region. But I’m particularly pleased to have 

4 

you here, because I do think, as I told you before the hearing started, we really need to look at the challenges facing the OSCE. 

I am very concerned about the bureaucracy in Vienna. I think it’s 

become way too bureaucratic. We need to get our capitals more directly involved in the work of OSCE. I worry about what would be 

the bureaucracy in Vienna’s view of the Parliamentary Assembly. 

I worry about it, because I think the Parliamentary Assembly is a 

critical part of the OSCE. 

Parliamentarians have a unique perspective. I’ve seen the struggle on election monitoring and think that was an area where we 

spent an awful lot of energy in order to protect something that’s 

very, very important and why we aren’t all working together in a 

more effective manner. 

So I hope that this will be part of today’s hearing, planning strategies to make sure that we’re effective in the future, because I do 

think for the member states and, quite frankly, beyond the member 

states—what we’re doing with our Mediterranean dimension has 

been very important outside of the OSCE states itself—that we 

present a model that could be used internationally to help move 

understanding and cooperation so that we have a safer world and 

more prosperous world for all the citizens. 

And I think we play a major role in that, and I’m just proud to 

be part of the Helsinki Commission and welcome you here to Washington. 

Mr. HASTINGS. Thank you very much, Senator. 

Commissioner Solis, the President’s Special Representative. 

HON. HILDA L. SOLIS, COMMISSIONER, COMMISSION ON 

SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

Ms. SOLIS. Thank you very much, Chairman Hastings and also 

Co-Chairman Cardin. It’s a real pleasure to be here in this capacity 

now, and I especially want to welcome Mr. Lennmarker and, obviously, our good friend Mr. Oliver. 

I am very grateful for the position that you have asked me to 

serve in the migration area. Immigration, as you know, is a very, 

very troubling and controversial, but very important issue that 

we’re facing not only here in the United States, but obviously in 

all parts of the world. 

And I just came from another briefing regarding Iraq and the 

refugee situation there that bordering states in the Mediterranean 

are faced with. So I’m sure that we’re going to be learning about 

the role that the United States will be playing in helping to transition those refugees and asylum refugees as well. So I’m sure that 

we’re going to be able to shed a lot of light on that. 

And I really appreciate all the work that you have done and look 

forward to hearing your report, and I’m looking forward to attending our meeting next year. And I’m very excited about the enthusiasm and the spirit of OSCE and what it represents. 

I think for someone like myself who comes from a State like California that is viewed in some cases as progressive, we have a lot 

that we can share—our ideas with other members of the various 

parliaments that are going to be represented. 

This week there is a delegation of women from the Congress who 

are going to be visiting parliamentarians in Europe to talk about 

5 

women’s health issues, teenage issues and juvenile issues. So that’s 

another aspect that I hope to share my position as the representative for youth to talk about what we’re trying to do in the States, 

but also as a member of the Helsinki Commission. 

So welcome, and thank you very much. 

Mr. HASTINGS. Thank you, Commissioner Solis. 

Commissioner McIntyre? 

HON. MIKE McINTYRE, COMMISSIONER, COMMISSION ON 

SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

Mr. MCINTYRE. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. 

And what a pleasure it is to be able to have each of you gentlemen here with us today. 

I’m especially pleased that, Mr. Lennmarker, you and I were together in February in Vienna at the Winter Meeting, and thank 

you for the leadership you had there as well as the excellent planning that we saw at the meeting that we had in Kiev, Ukraine, this 

July and the leadership that you’ve exhibited throughout. You’ve 

given wonderful service to OSCE and to the member nations that 

has been a blessing in the work of OSCE. 

Your work and leadership has been excellent. It’s been energetic. 

It’s been very efficient. And I think those are the simplest, but the 

most dynamic ways to describe your leadership and I greatly appreciate the leadership that you’ve given. It’s always been fair, and 

I’ve always enjoyed working with you and working under your 

leadership during my service on this Commission. 

Spencer, I’d also like to say thank you for being here today and 

for your leadership. We’re very proud of the commitments you have 

and especially enjoyed the time that we spent with you also in the 

Ukraine recently. It’s great to have both of you gentlemen here 

with us today. Thank you. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. HASTINGS. Thank you very much. 

President Lennmarker? Or as we are fond of saying in the Assembly, you have the floor. 

GO ̈ RAN LENNMARKER, PRESIDENT, PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

Mr. LENNMARKER. Thank you, my dear friend Alcee Hastings, 

president emeritus of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE. 

Thank you for the nice words from all of you. Could I first say it 

is a great pleasure and a deep honor to be here in the Helsinki 

Commission of the U.S. Congress? 

And I would like to thank the members of the Commission—certainly, the President, Mr. Hastings, president emeritus of our organization and also a very active emeritus, I might say. Usually, 

emeritus means that you lean back sometimes. That is not for 

Alcee Hastings. He continues to contribute very valuably to our 

work. 

And also to the Co-Chair, Senator Cardin—nice to see you. And 

you also have contributed to the Parliamentary Assembly through 

the work in the committee that you chaired. 

6 

Ms. Solis, I’m glad to see you here. You will have a tough time, 

I can tell you, when you are a representative of migration, which 

is a hot topic—a hot topic in all parliaments, I can tell you, in Europe, and you have the same, of course, in your country—because 

it’s a contentious issue. It’s an area where perhaps nobody I saw 

is extremely successful. We are more and less failures sometimes, 

I say. Some are less failures than others. 

And Mr. McIntyre, I appreciate very much working with you and 

look forward to so as you also climb on those ladders in our organization, because we need a strong U.S. participation in those. That’s 

extremely important, because our organization is focusing on the 

wider Europe. But its very value is in its membership from the 

United States—and Canada, I would add. 

We won’t forget that we are 56 countries. We are about half of 

the world economy. We are one-third of the land surface of the 

globe. We are about one-fifth—a little less nowadays—of the population of the globe in the 56 countries. And certainly their focus on 

the OSCE area, particularly on the wider Europe, is extremely important. 

If you look at Europe—and I chose the title ‘‘Whole and Free’’, 

because I think that is a value that we share over the Atlantic— 

I think that if you compared it with what happened in your country 

a long time ago now when you built your country, I would say that 

what we see in Europe today is that coming today of the European 

continent. 

The fall of the Berlin Wall was perhaps like when you went over 

the Mississippi once—the divide there going to the west. We are 

going to the east in a way. So the Berlin Wall was perhaps like the 

arc in St. Louis, showing the way in. 

And I would say that you coming from California—the Pacific of 

Europe is perhaps the Black Sea, while the European integration 

we go on further. We are at 54 countries in the wider Europe, and 

23 of them are new countries. They didn’t exist as independent 

countries 20 years ago. Forty percent of the members in our Parliamentary Assembly were not national parliaments that recently. 

And I think that shows the construction that we are in Europe. 

I would say that essentially Europe is on its right track, because 

if you look back in history, Europe has usually been the source of 

problems for itself and also for other continents. And I don’t wish 

to say that in the U.S. Congress that certainly the United States 

had to pay a lot throughout the last century for helping Europe to 

sort out the mess that we have done in Europe—and beyond Europe even. 

Now Europe certainly is, I would say, in a situation where I 

guess we would be able to construct a whole and free continent. We 

are not there yet, but there have been enormous gains throughout 

the last decade. They are more democratic than ever before. There 

is less oppression than ever before. It’s more prosperous than ever 

before. 

I would particularly say that the eastern half of Europe is catching up—sometimes rather rapidly. Coming out of dictatorship is 

not that easy—to build a modern democracy in a modern functioning economy, taking in, of course, all the problems that you 

7 

have with members of the former regimes, trying to accommodate 

them. 

And we are certainly more peaceful after the battles that we 

have had. I just mentioned the word ‘‘Srebrenica,’’ which in Europe, 

of course, gives a bitter shame. 

So I would say against that background, Europe is doing pretty 

well. I say this because I think it’s important, because I otherwise 

will focus on problems, and when you focus on problems, of course, 

you take on those areas which are not functioning that well. 

The way we build our Europe is on two very important pillars. 

One is about values. It’s a value-based work in Europe, where we 

agree on principles that are there. And the other is to have strong 

organization. 

OSCE is one of those strong organizations that needs to be there 

to see to it that you don’t only have values that are all there on 

paper, but also values that are followed by the member countries— 

not only pretend to follow values, but also actually doing these. 

And I think this is extremely important to build our European continent in that way. 

These 54 European countries have 880 million—nearly three 

times as big as the United States population-wise. It’s, as I said, 

a rapidly growing continent economically, and we now have to 

focus, I think, on the things that we need to do before we reach 

the goal of a whole and free continent. 

One thing, of course, is a frozen conflict. I hate the word ‘‘frozen 

conflict’’ because it implies that you can live with a conflict. It is 

not so. It is a price paid for these conflicts constantly day by day. 

People are killed. If I take the one that I have been deeply engaged 

in and I’m not going to call that conflict, people die. Young people 

are killed along the line of contact. A shepherd goes after straying 

sheep, for example, that trample on a land mine, and a catastrophe 

is caused by that. 

We need to see at least that we not only focus on the frozen conflict, but we also deliver results. If I just look at the NagornoKarabakh conflict, I would say that the three co-chairman of the 

Minsk Group have done a really good job. One of those is, as you 

know, from the United States, together with France and Russia. 

Now it’s up to the leadership of the two countries to be able to sign 

on a solution, which I think is a good solution for the two countries. 

But I also say that the three areas in Europe where a lot of work 

still needs to be done is the western Balkans, the six or the sixplus countries, the plus being Kosovo that is not yet part of a stabilized Europe, so to say, and had recent conflict, as you remember, 

in the 1990s. Both Srebrenica that was, in a way, the symbolic catastrophe of that region, and accordingly, the Kosovo campaign if 

you go back to the spring of 1999, led to tremendous work there, 

not least by the OSCE. We have missions over there. I’ve been 

traveling by car, I can tell you, throughout these countries to see 

the missions and to see the work that is done there. And there you 

see the strength of the OSCE. I must really tell you that they’re 

doing an enormous job on the ground. And we see that. 

I can tell you one example that we were going to wind down one 

of the missions in Croatia, because Croatia is in the process of joining NATO and EU. But the work done by the OSCE is so imporVerDate Nov 24 2008 09:58 Dec 21, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 E:\WORK\101807.TXT HAROLD PsN: HAROLD
8 

tant that they could not be replaced by something else. Now we see 

even the Croatians say that perhaps we should stay on with this 

type of OSCE work on the ground. 

This reflects some return of refugees and attention for refugees. 

And also when it comes to the Hague Tribunal, the lesser crimes 

are dealt within the national system, not in the Hague Tribunal. 

These are just an example. 

The other is the Black Sea area—as I said, the Pacific of Europe, 

if I make the parallel with the U.S. expansion in the 19th century. 

And I think that it is important to see that Ukraine and Turkey 

in the European Union, which I strongly, strongly support, and the 

countries of southern Caucasus—the three of them and Moldova, a 

country that is usually forgotten, because it’s rather small, but an 

important one. 

In Belarus, we need to see that the OSCE, which it has a mission 

there, supports democracy, that we support the independent sovereignty work. 

Well, let’s finally come to the Central Asian countries, the five 

countries that are in a difficult geographical position. They are 

landlocked, all of them—the Caspian Sea is really not a sea, but 

more a salty lake—and they have come out of a tradition of dictatorship and never been independent countries. 

And I want to underline that, because this is tough to build a 

modern, functioning democracy when you come out of such a situation. And we certainly would wish to see much more engagement 

when it comes to Central Asia. It will be a much longer journey. 

When I talk to my Baltic friends—if we only look at Lithuania, 

they’ll say that yes, we also came out of dictatorship, but we had 

democratic neighbors, had strong democratic countries in our 

neighborhood. That is not so in Central Asia. That’s why I particularly want to emphasize engagement in Central Asia. 

For one thing, I appointed a special representative there, a colleague from Finland, as you know, and we will also try to show 

from the Nordic country on how you can have a regional cooperation on practical issues in order to try to get these countries to cooperate with each other, which is sometimes difficult when you are 

a new sovereign country. You want to express your independence, 

your own national institutions, and then of course you are sometimes a little less happy to share with a neighboring country which 

is in the same position. 

That is also why we will have our next annual session in Astana, 

the new capital of Kazakhstan in early July or late June next year. 

That’s also why I’m personally supporting the idea that 

Kazakhstan should have the chairmanship of the OSCE. 

Kazakhstan is not the perfect democracy. No country in Central 

Asia is that. There are also some others of these I’ve described 

where democracy has not yet taken root. But I think we all are a 

work under construction, and engagement is part of that. That’s 

why I am so strongly supportive of this idea of the chairmanship, 

but also sovereignty support. 

Can I add one point that I think is important? Building a sovereign country takes time, and to build a democracy you must be 

a sovereign country first. Democracy-building is a challenge, and 

9 

sometimes you have to think through what are the different stages 

in it. 

Could I just end with two important things that were brought up 

by you, and that is about the parliamentary dimension? It’s very 

simple. It’s like children. They don’t do what the parents say; they 

do what the parents do. And if we on the OSCE say that parliamentary dimension, strong democratic oversight is important, 

should we have that in our own organization? It’s not more complicated than that. 

You need parliaments not only for making laws and taking budgets, but to control power, for power must be controlled. That is the 

essence of democracy, and I think that we need to see to it that 

we have a proper parliamentary dimension in our own organization, an open democratic organization that has a scrutiny that 

should be there for everyone. And so I think that is extremely important. 

It’s also important when you look at the internal machinery. And 

you referred to that—that the role of the Parliamentary Assembly 

as an institution in OSCE is extremely important. Oversight does 

not mean micromanagement. Administrations are there to be an 

executive, but oversight is control that things are done in the correct way. 

Could I add one personal word? I was previously in the opposition chair of the constitution committee in the Swedish parliament, 

and we scrutinized the Swedish Government’s handling of the tsunami catastrophe in Thailand or in the Indian Ocean. As a matter 

of fact, Sweden was the hardest hit country in Europe—of course, 

much less than the countries there—but the handling of that catastrophe was scrutinized in parliament. 

And that was extremely important to show responsibility, of 

course, but also for the future, because that’s the whole idea with 

scrutiny. Governments don’t like to make the mistakes twice, if 

they are smart. 

Could I then end with a word of election monitoring? That is an 

important part of the work of the Parliamentary Assembly. We 

have observed about 90 elections throughout the years, I would 

say. More than 2,000 parliamentarians have been there, and I 

think that this is one of the important things in the construction 

of a democratic Europe—to observe the elections. 

But we had a problem, as you know, with ODIHR, when it comes 

to the internal cooperation with the OSCE. We should do this together, and if you do it together, you should be open. You should 

do it in a trustful way, not having internal difficulties. 

There is a way to sort this out. It’s called the cooperation agreement. It was established long before you and I, Mr. President, were 

in charge of our Parliamentary Assembly back in 1997. And we 

have scrupulously, from our parliamentary side, followed that. I’m 

sorry to say that has not been from the other side. Now we need 

to sort that out. That is extremely important to do that. 

Could I end with one particular word to you as democratically 

elected parliamentarians from the United States? We need you in 

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. We need you in other parliamentary assemblies. We need you taking part in the international 

10 

world. We know that you have tough schedules in your country, in 

your parliament. You are extremely busy. I’ve seen the schedule. 

But see to it that you have the time to participate with other 

parliamentarians, to discuss, to meet—not only to rush into a meeting and rush out again, but having a cup of coffee or a drink or 

sitting at night to contemplate things. We need you there, and I 

think there should be ways to see that you can make Congressmen 

and Senators able to participate even more. We would appreciate 

from the rest of us. 

Thank you. 

Mr. HASTINGS. Go ̈ran, I, last evening, read your full remarks and 

with your permission and with unanimous consent of the Commission, we will accept your full statement into the record. And I appreciate very much your summarization of those remarks. 

I would urge the staff to make sure that we get them up on our 

Web site, because they are illuminating on many of the issues that 

we may not reach in our question time. 

Just as a followup to what you said regarding our parliamentarian meeting yesterday, I, as well as others, met with Tunisian 

parliamentarians, you’ll be pleased to know. Our Mediterranean 

partners were here in America, and I cited the fact that you were 

here and your important work that you are continuing in that 

area—as well as a potential future Mediterranean partner, Lebanese parliamentarians were here yesterday as well, and I, as well 

as others, met with them. 

Commissioner Butterfield, thank you. 

We’ve been joined by the ranking member of the Helsinki Commission, and we all, of course, began with opening statements, so 

if you could give us a truncated opening statement, it would be appreciated. 

HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, RANKING MEMBER, 

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

Mr. SMITH. Well, I would ask that my whole statement be made 

a part of the record. 

Mr. HASTINGS. Without objection. 

Mr. SMITH. And I won’t take the time of the Commission to deliver that, but just to welcome you, Mr. President and Spencer Oliver, to the Commission. And thank you for the honor of your presence and your testimony. And I do have some questions, but at the 

appropriate time I’ll pose those. 

But you mentioned the idea of checks and balances. The reason 

why I was late, Mr. Chairman, was that there was a group of 

Democrats and Republicans who just met with Catholic Church officials on Iraq. It was scheduled for an hour and went for an hour 

and 20 minutes. 

And what we’re doing is talking about responsible transition, and 

these are a very eclectic group, a very disparate group of Members 

who don’t agree on very much, but we’re trying to find a way forward on the vexing issue of Iraq. So that’s what made me late. 

But it was very, very illuminating—we’re looking at the refugee 

issue, the 4.5 million or so refugees. We’re looking at a whole 

bunch of issues, because we want, obviously, to protect innocent 

human life from what could be a genocide in Iraq and balancing 

11 

that with how quickly can we transition security to the Iraqi security forces. So it was a very, very illuminating discussion, and we’re 

trying to find some way of working together. 

And rather than para-control, sometimes we micromanage, and 

it’s a good thing we do, because a lot of our bills have micromanagement—State Department, Justice Department. We see our 

role, as I’m sure you would agree, as total, absolute co-equals with 

the executive branch, and many of our parliaments need to realize 

that they are not an adjunct of the prime minister or the president 

for life. They are a co-equal branch. And so I think your point there 

was very well taken. 

Thank you. 

Mr. HASTINGS. Thank you very much. 

Commissioner Butterfield, you joined us, and I’ll allow you an 

even more truncated statement than Mr. Smith’s. 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. You 

and I have that in common. I have a tendency to be brief anyway. 

Spencer, good to see you again. 

Mr. President, thank you very much for coming. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you for your leadership. 

I’m happy to be here today. I’ve had three meetings this morning, and I apologize for being late, but welcome. 

Thank you. I yield back. 

Mr. HASTINGS. Thank you very much. 

Following what Representative Smith said, Mr. President, I 

think you know of all of our deep concern about the humanitarian 

and security crisis resulting from the massive flow of Iraqi refugees 

into neighboring countries, including some 750,000 in OSCE partner state of Jordan, Egypt, and Turkey are impacted as well. 

But I want to take this opportunity to thank you and your government for accepting more than 12,000 Iraqi refugees for resettlement in Sweden. Your country, as I understand it, is just a little 

over nine million people. This would be, then, the equivalent in the 

United States of accepting more than 400,000 Iraqi refugees. 

Sadly, and I might add pathetically, we’ve resettled less than 

2,000 refugees from Iraq since 2003. Clearly, in my view—and 

you’ve heard it expressed here by Ms. Solis and Mr. Smith—the 

United States has a significant role and I believe should lead in addressing this catastrophe. 

And for the purpose of my fellow Commissioners, I have introduced legislation developed in the Helsinki Commission that would 

provide substantially increased humanitarian aid for Iraqi refugees 

and their host countries, international organizations working in the 

region and the 2.2 million internally displaced in Iraq. 

One of the things that I find that is a phenomenon that many 

policymakers here don’t know is that many of those internally displaced Iraqis are Christian, as well as this legislation would expedite the process and move Iraqi refugees for resettlement in the 

United States. 

I’d like your view as to what we can do to encourage other OSCE 

Participating states and international communities to assist in this 

effort, but I’d also like, Mr. President, if you would amplify on the 

mid-September meeting of the Chairman-in-Office that took place 

in Spain. I gathered from that meeting and words that came from 

12 

the Chair-in-Office that they had managed to allow ODIHR and the 

Parliamentary Assembly to work more efficiently. 

And I just am wondering since that time, as we’ve had election 

monitoring take place, how you respond to whether the mandate 

that evidently was developed in Spain with Chairman-in-Office 

Moratinos was undertaken. 

And maybe we could do it this way. 

Hilda, if you would ask a question. 

Chris, if you would ask one. 

Mike and G.K. 

And Go ̈ran’s a big boy, and he’ll just take them down and maybe 

address it all at one time, rather than interrupt. 

So, Hilda, if you would? 

Ms. SOLIS. I am just very pleased to hear your report, Mr. President. And I’m very anxious also to see how the OSCE can play a 

bigger role in providing direction assistance for the refugees in 

Iraq. And I commend your country and I commend all the work 

that folks have been doing. 

Clearly, we can learn a great lesson from you. I don’t know why 

we have our own stalemate here in the House when we refuse to 

help resettle refugees and we know that some of the Iraqis have 

family members who live in our states and in our districts. And we 

definitely want to work to play a role to focus that attention on 

some of the Members here in our Congress to take more of a leadership role. 

I happen to have gone to Iraq several months ago and visited 

with some of our counterparts in Jordan and heard there the tremendous impact that the refugees in just resettling people—professionals, by the way, many who were able to leave and flee—but tremendous amount of discrimination that is going on and is being inflicted on this population. 

And my concern also is with what has happened in Iraq also in 

terms of their constitution and the treatment of women and how, 

in fact, my understanding is that the constitution has actually lessened the role of women in government. And their status in society 

has actually been lowered in terms of how they are categorized in 

the category with children and with disabled individuals. 

And I was told that by counterparts there from Iraqi women who 

served in their new parliament there, so to speak. That’s the message that we received. It was very disturbing to see that our own 

public here is not fully aware of what has taken place and what 

impact that will have in so many years to come. 

I’m very concerned also about the food shortage that is also occurring out there. This is something that I’m sure is happening in 

many other countries that are faced with these kinds of dilemmas. 

But the fact that there’s a food shortage, that we are not appropriately seeing food items also being administered, because there 

are rogue militia that are confiscating food supplies. So we heard 

from Sunni representatives who were saying that they were being 

punished also indirectly and were not receiving food supplies. 

So that’s another crisis that I think we need to focus in on. And 

I know maybe I’m going off a bit here from our role, but I think 

that this is such a compelling issue for all of us here in the United 

States and certainly in Europe. Every time we travel to Europe, 

13 

I’m constantly being told what is the United States doing about addressing Iraq besides coming to closure on the war there, but helping to provide assistance. And how can we do that better in the 

structure of the OSCE? 

Mr. HASTINGS. Thank you. 

Chris? 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Very briefly, again, Mr. President, thank you again for being 

here. I’m going to leave for a hearing that started at 10, and I’m 

ranking there as well, on reauthorization of a law that I wrote in 

2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, emphasizing prosecution protection and prosecution prevention and protection—what 

we’re all trying to do throughout the OSCE region. 

I’ve been in shelters all over the world—Nigeria, Peru, all of the 

Asian countries, Bosnia, Russia, Italy, Ukraine, Romania—and I’ve 

been to those both faith-based and those that were more secular 

oriented. And both offer, I think, a tremendous opportunity for reconciliation for the women. 

There is a bias I find, though, against faith-based groups among 

some people. And I would hope that we could address just how important it is that as we deal with the physical and mental catastrophe that these women face, that very often there is a profound 

spiritual hole in her life for these trafficked women especially that 

only a faith intervention can help to fill. 

The brokenness is so profound, so complete, and in the shelters 

I’ve seen the faith-based component very often can address that, 

and I think we need to integrate our efforts on dealing with that. 

On the Roma, we all know there was a Warsaw meeting on the 

Human Dimension, a full day spent on the Romani participation in 

the Parliamentary Assembly. Maybe you want to speak to that. 

Belarus—we all try to encourage Belarus to become part of the 

Parliamentary Assembly by living up to certain standards and 

benchmarks. Is their delegation at least beginning to catch the 

good infection about democracy and human rights? 

And finally, on anti-Semitism. Our deep concern of this Commission—it’s bipartisan—that that scourge never again—and the rising tide of anti-Semitism and our special efforts that the Parliamentary Assembly has made. Your thoughts on that. 

Mr. HASTINGS. Mike? 

Mr. MCINTYRE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Lennmarker, my concern is about Russia, and within that 

discussion, would you address action taken recently by Russia, supported by several other countries—Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, 

Kyrgyzstan, and others—that put forward a draft decision for the 

Madrid ministerial talking about having basically a one size fits all 

to observation of elections, a maximum of 50 observers. And this 

appears to be the culmination of several years of Russian efforts to 

undercut OSCE election observation. 

I wonder how you suggest that we respond to that. And along 

that line specifically, has OSCE been invited to the upcoming 

Duma elections? 

And we all know that President Putin has been taking certain 

actions in Russia that concern all of us. Do you think there’s any 

chance that Russia might leave the organization? If they were to, 

14 

do you think that would affect other countries that might follow 

their lead? 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. HASTINGS. Thank you. 

Mr. Butterfield? 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My question is a 

very basic question. I’ve looked at the names of the participating 

Members of the House, and it looks like there are nine of us who 

are on the Commission, and I am the junior of the nine, and so I’m 

still engaged in the learning process. 

I’ve traveled to the Assembly on two occasions, and I don’t get 

the sense that the Assembly is as strong as it could be in Europe. 

And I guess my question is a very basic one, and that is does Europe really need the OSCE? And if so, what can we do to enhance 

the organization and to give it more visibility and to give the states 

more of an opportunity to play a more prominent role in this organization? 

I want to deal with it from a very basic perspective. And I hope 

I’m wrong, but I don’t get the feeling that we have the prominence 

that we deserve. 

Thank you. 

Mr. LENNMARKER. Thank you. Could I then just try to make 

rather short remarks? I can do it before we have to leave. 

Mr. HASTINGS. We’ve also initiated a process where people in the 

audience have an opportunity to ask a question. I’m reading this 

for the first time. It said: ‘‘You call Kazakhstan a work under construction in terms of democratic progress. Can you explain how you 

think Kazakhstan’s taking the chairmanship in ’09 would assist 

this work under construction? What chance is there that their 

progress would be slowed if they are, quote, ‘rewarded,’ unquote, 

with the chairmanship?’’ 

I apologize, Go ̈ran, but I do like for people who come to our hearings to have an opportunity to ask questions sometimes. 

Mr. LENNMARKER. Thank you. I think that’s the whole idea. We 

have tough questions, and we try to answer them. 

Could I start with Iraq? It’s important for all of us to see to it 

that we give a possibility for refugees from Iraq to come to seek 

shelter. That is certainly the position of my country—parliament 

and government alike—that we have a responsibility to do that. 

Sweden is, then, roughly like New York, I guess, population-wise. 

So I think you can refer to that. And you said 12,000, Mr. President. I guess it’s more 20,000 nowadays. It’s rapidly increasing, I 

can tell you. 

And there are two things I think are important. One is, of course, 

to lead by example. It’s easy to say nice words, but it is more difficult to live up to your word. And I think that is the role of our 

country that said, ‘‘Yes, we have to do it.’’ 

We try also to get other countries in Europe, not only in the European Union, to be more open, which is, again, very difficult, because there is a debate on migration. That is in some countries not 

very pleasant, I can tell you. And in that circumstance, I think 

that’s important. 

The other is to have a functioning labor market so that people 

can get into jobs. That is what we found is the most important 

15 

thing. When you come to a country, you are prepared to contribute 

to the country you come to. And if you have a functioning labor 

market, they can do that soon. That is far easier—far easier than 

when you have the feeling that they steal our jobs or whatever— 

which is sad, very sad, I can tell you. 

Not least, of course, is to add that they come to a culture that 

is not so close to your own. That, of course, adds to the problem. 

You know, for example, that if you have an Arabic name, it’s more 

difficult to get a job—you know that for sure—than if you have a 

Swedish name, because that’s how it functions in reality. 

Certainly, we also in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly have focused a lot on that. We had recently a conference together with the 

Chairman-in-Office in Cordoba in Spain focusing on discrimination 

against Muslims which are in Europe. This is also part of the question to finding techniques as legislators, not as micromanagement, 

perhaps, but also see to it that our administrations can handle this. 

Mr. Hastings, you asked about the 19th of July. Spencer Oliver 

and I myself, together with the leadership of ODIHR and also the 

Chairman-in-Office, met in Madrid to sort out and to underline the 

importance of keeping to the agreements that we have done. And 

we also put some very concrete things that we should do for the 

upcoming two elections that were very close. One was in 

Kazakhstan in mid-August. The other was more than 2 weeks ago 

in Ukraine. 

And I’m sorry to say, but I say it openly, that they did not fulfill 

what we agreed on. We were particularly disturbed that we were 

not allowed to share the long-term observers report on which we 

base the verdict of an election. And that is not acceptable. 

When it comes to Chris’s questions—he had to leave—trafficking 

is certainly a big problem. And I would say it’s not only for the 

countries where the victims come from. He mentioned destination 

countries. 

I can go to my own constituency—Stockholm. We have had cases 

where girls have been imprisoned, living under miserable conditions. It’s also our responsibility on so to say the receiving side— 

or whatever you say—for the destination countries and the countries of origin to work together, because it’s not enough to be in 

shelters—which is important, and I agree fully on that. That is 

where the game stops. 

But it is also for us in countries where the girls come to to see 

to it that we have vigorous law enforcement there, and also to really understand that this is a serious crime. Because to be sure, 

there are in Europe—perhaps also in the United States; I don’t 

know—those who don’t think it is a real crime. They look through 

the fingers, as we say. They don’t prosecute as it should be, and 

I think this is an extremely important job. We had to do that back 

home, and I am sorry to say in my own constituency in Sweden, 

we have work to do on this matter. 

When it comes to the Roma, one particular point we learned during the Serbian election, was how to introduce Roma into the political process. This is the best example I’ve seen to bring the Roma 

into the election process. We were all impressed by that. Still, it 

is a big problem by those Roma who are not integrated in Serb soVerDate Nov 24 2008 09:58 Dec 21, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 E:\WORK\101807.TXT HAROLD PsN: HAROLD
16 

ciety in this case. And, of course, it goes for any society. But there 

are those who are trying seriously to do this, and I commend that. 

When it comes to Belarus, I would say that we had one moment 

in the history of the Parliamentary Assembly in Kyiv, as it’s called 

in Ukrainian—I just underline that—when we had what I think is 

an example of the good work of the Parliamentary Assembly. 

It was about the parliamentarians from Belarus having to defend 

and to debate—having to defend and debate what was that in the 

resolution on Belarus. Isn’t that how it should be? Instead of not 

coming or locking the door, they had to participate in the debate. 

And that I think is extremely important. That is why I am a passionate believer in contacts, even with regimes that are not very 

pleasant. 

But usually in such regimes also you have some people that are 

more open. Perhaps you can influence them more. We don’t know 

that for sure, but I think that we must do that. 

Anti-Semitism, of course, coming from Europe, the big shame of 

Europe—perhaps the darkest hour in mankind happened some 60 

years ago. Anti-Semitism still is a problem, but I would add, 

though, that anti-Islamic is also a big problem. And some people 

utter things about the Muslims that if you change the word from 

Muslim to Jew, then we would realize how it sounds. I just want 

to say that, not diminishing the problem with anti-Semitism—not 

at all. I think we’re not in the league of comparing things, but to 

put perspective into that. 

Congressman McIntyre, election observation. When it comes to 

the Duma elections, I certainly hope that we will be able to observe 

them. We have not yet gotten an official invitation, but rumors are 

that we will get one. But I cannot confirm that as yet. 

The idea that this would have some sort of a political control 

over election observation—that is absolutely not acceptable. You 

cannot have a vote or a veto on whether an election is correct or 

not. It should be independent. That’s why we have this very good 

construction of our Parliamentary Assembly together with ODHIR 

doing this. 

And independent parliamentarians, usually on the bipartisan you 

would call it, or multipartisan even, are greatly agreed on the judgment of an election. Of course, we want to see fair and free elections. We also know, some of us, because we are elected people, 

how we should observe elections. We also have the legitimacy of 

being elected, which is extremely important, I would say. 

Civil servants are important to serve and to help us and to help 

us sort out things, but it is ultimately the judgment of elected politicians to make these verdicts, and that’s why it’s so important that 

we give parliamentary dimension when it comes to election observation. But again, Congressman McIntyre, no—no political vetting 

of election observation. That would be the death of the whole idea 

of independent. 

I don’t think Russia will leave us. That will be a big mistake, because the OSCE is needed. 

And now I go to your question, Congressman Butterfield, that 

OSCE might not be that important in a well-established western 

democracy. But in countries that are focused on their own development, building their democracy, fighting to get a noncorrupt society 

17 

foot—corruption is a big, big problem in some of the new eastern 

democracies and non-democracies—there, of course, the OSCE is 

badly needed. 

I spoke earlier before you had the possibility to arrive about the 

enormous OSCE presence in the Western Balkans, in Bosnia 

Herzegovina, in Serbia, in Kosovo. The biggest mission there is in 

Kosovo. It was recently 1,400 people in the OSCE mission dealing 

with democracy building, I would say, in the sense. There OSCE 

is badly needed. Go out there. Visit the missions and you will see 

that it is extremely important. 

And I will say, as I underlined before, in Central Asia that OSCE 

is extremely important there. We have deficiencies. We just described this about the cooperation or sometimes lack of cooperation 

when it comes to election monitoring. There has been perhaps in 

Vienna more focus sometimes on the inner deliberations or the 

inner things of the organization instead of what we get out of it. 

And I agree with—I guess it was Mr. Hastings who said that the 

need to be more of a political oversight over the ministries, on the 

OSCE work——it has gone down, so to say, on the list of priorities. 

And then, of course, the ministers tend not to follow it as closely 

as they should. But again, I think that is important. 

Finally, Kazakhstan. I think that there are those who will say 

that there might be risk, but life is not a risk-free game. If we are 

to see to it that Central Asia is engaged, that we have sovereignty 

support, that we try to strengthen those strands of society that are 

wishing to have a western type of society, we must aid them to 

take that risk. That is my judgment. I cannot guarantee. Nobody 

can. But we need to do that. That is my firm judgment. 

Mr. HASTINGS. There were two additional questions dealing with 

Kazakhstan, and with your permission, I would very much like to 

submit them to you, and then when you answer them, we can publish it on our website, and the first person that put them right 

there will receive them that way. 

Of course, we’ve been joined also by Commissioner Aderholt, who 

you know has been very active. 

And Robert, if you just wanted to have an abbreviated word, 

since you made it here. 

Mr. ADERHOLT. Yes, thank you. I’m sorry. I had a couple of conflicts, but I want to thank you for being here this morning, and I’m 

sorry I came in late, but thank you for the work that you do in 

your role at OSCE, and we thank you for being here this morning. 

As you know, the schedule is always very unpredictable around 

here, but a lot of things like Kazakhstan that I was wondering 

about as well, so I look forward to your answers on how to look for 

how we move forward on that. So thank you again for being here. 

Mr. HASTINGS. Thank you very much, Mr. President. And this 

hearing is adjourned. And we will see you at noon, Robert, if you 

have time. We’re in the Members’ dining room. You can stop in and 

chat with us. 

Mr. ADERHOLT. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 10:30 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

18 

A P P E N D I C E S 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS, 

CHAIRMAN, COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION 

IN EUROPE 

I am pleased to convene this morning’s hearing in which we will 

hear a parliamentary perspective on security and cooperation in 

Europe. Our witness, a close personal friend of mine, is Goran 

Lennmarker, a Swedish parliamentarian and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Riksdag, as well as my successor as 

President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. 

The role of parliamentarians in the Helsinki process goes back 

almost to the beginning. With the creation of the Helsinki Commission in 1976, the U.S. Congress has played an enormous role in 

shaping U.S. OSCE policy, combining regional and diplomatic expertise with the political capital Members of Congress have. Over 

the years, many countries expressed interest in emulating the 

Commission in their own national parliaments, but the creation of 

the 320-member OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has served a similar purpose. It has created groups within parliaments knowledgeable about OSCE issues and willing to keep the diplomats moving 

forward. 

As we see today, however, these issues are not necessarily easy. 

The challenges in U.S. and European relations with Russia are 

growing, for example, while Russia’s internal development is a 

cause for deep concern. 

Numerous local and regional conflicts which erupted in the 1990s 

continue to simmer. People continue to suffer the effects of these 

conflicts today, although they are rarely noticed given the absence 

of widespread violence. The lives and well-being of more people are 

at risk if political solutions are not found. 

In December, what many consider the last open question in the 

Balkans—the status of Kosovo—is expected to be answered. Unfortunately, there continues to be disagreement on what the answer 

should be, creating increased instability at a time when the whole 

region should be working on European integration. 

Despite their freely undertaken OSCE commitments, many 

OSCE States are behind in their democratic development and fail 

to respect basic human rights. Belarus comes to mind, along with 

some countries of Central Asia. On a wider scale, we continue to 

see manifestations of anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of hatred and intolerance. 

And of course, as we well know here in the United States, there 

are the challenges of protecting civil liberties and basic human 

rights at the same time we fight terrorism. As our witness today 

is aware, the President of the Belgian Senate, our colleague Ann 

Marie Lizin, testified before this Commission earlier this year 

about her investigation of the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo 

Bay. 

Parliamentarians have an unquestionable role to play in responding to these issues. They know the workings of democracy 

and the threats democracy faces. They deal with people, and have 

19 

an understanding of how a society works. And through the OSCE 

Parliamentary Assembly and similar fora, they pool their experience and expertise to make Europe, the wider OSCE region and 

the world a better place. 

As we know, governments often resent parliamentarians holding 

them accountable, and diplomats can be very much like the governments they represent. As a result, there are institutional issues 

that come up in the OSCE, including the role of the OSCE PA, that 

unfortunately sidetrack us from real issues like the holding of free 

and fair elections, combating corruption or responding to conflict. 

I know our witness today, Goran Lennmarker, will be addressing 

questions regarding the situation in various parts of the OSCE region as well as within the organization, and I very much look forward to hearing his views. 

20 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, COCHAIRMAN, COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION 

IN EUROPE 

I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening this hearing, 

and I am delighted to welcome the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly 

President and our colleague from Sweden, Goran Lennmarker, to 

Washington and to Capitol Hill today. 

I have been an active member of the U.S. Delegation to the 

OSCE Parliamentary for a number of years, and am particularly 

glad that I can continue to be active from the Senate as I had from 

the House. It has always been a valuable and rewarding experience, proposing new ideas and debating issues internationally just 

as we do here in the Congress. 

The often neglected but, in my view, very important issues covered by the second committee have always been a priority for me. 

In recent years, and still today, official corruption has been major 

problem in many OSCE participating States. In the OSCE PA, we 

have pushed for greater anti-corruption efforts, taking the form of 

improving governmental transparency and accountability. I hope 

this will continue. 

I have also urged, including at OSCE PA meetings, that all countries cooperate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for 

the former Yugoslavia, located in The Hague. That has meant Serbia first and foremost, given that country’s poor record of cooperation. As much as we want to see this removed as an issue and for 

Serbia to move ahead with European integration, Belgrade must 

take action to improve its cooperation. 

Members of the U.S. Delegation have also heard in recent meetings the concerns of our colleagues regarding Guantanamo Bay, 

and the U.S. human rights record. I believe we are no less concerned about this than our OSCE PA colleagues are, as our Helsinki Commission hearing in June and other activities demonstrate. We also know that this seriously hinders our own ability 

to press for positive changes in other countries. The answer, of 

course, is not to remain silent about the records of other countries, 

but to be sure we clean up our own act. I want to thank you, President Lennmarker, for encouraging the work of Belgian Senator 

Ann-Marie Lizin as your Special Representative on this issue. 

I look forward to the discussion today and, as an OSCE PA Vice 

President, to continue to productive dialogue we have had with our 

parliamentary colleagues from other OSCE States over the years. 

21 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, 

RANKING MEMBER, COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning to you all. Welcome 

especially to President Lennmarker, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, and to Spencer Oliver, General Secretary of the OSCEPA. 

I have been active in the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE 

for almost ten years. I have seen the value of the Parliamentary 

Assembly in the fight against human trafficking and anti-Semitism. In both cases it was the Parliamentary Assembly that put 

these issues on the OSCE agenda. 

It was only a few months ago that Rep. McIntyre and I were able 

to strengthen a Ukrainian resolution against trafficking. This week 

the OSCE is working in Vienna on combating the sexual exploitation of children. This effort originates in work we did in the Parliamentary Assembly, and in the Helsinki Commission. In the fight 

against anti-Semitism I worked closely with German and Canadian 

parliamentarians, and several of them testified at Helsinki Commission hearings that I chaired. 

The Parliamentary Assembly is a vital part of the OSCE. Within 

the OSCE it has been the Parliamentary Assembly that has consistently pushed human rights issues to the top of the OSCE agenda. The governments of most OSCE Participating States have often 

been reluctant to put human rights first. They have criticized socalled ‘‘parliamentary interference’’ in OSCE policy, but they have 

been quick to take the credit for the PA’s human rights initiatives. 

Few people know the OSCE as well as President Lennmarker. 

Mr. President, I look forward to hearing you testify on issues of 

concern to us all. 

22 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MR. GO ̈ RAN LENNMARKER, PRESIDENT, ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION 

IN EUROPE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY 

It is with great pleasure and deep honor to appear here today before the Helsinki Commission of the U.S. Congress, and I would 

like to thank the members of the Commission for inviting me, in 

particular the Commission’s chairman and President Emeritus of 

the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, my good friend, Alcee Hastings, as well as its co-chairman, Senator Benjamin Cardin, who is 

one of the Vice Presidents of our Assembly. 

I am also pleased to note that I am accompanied here by the Assembly’s Secretary General, Spencer Oliver, who was the first Staff 

Director of the Helsinki Commission. 

The work of the Helsinki Commission and the participation of 

the United States in OSCE and its Parliamentary Assembly have 

been invaluable to our organization. In fact, the membership of the 

U.S. and of Canada in our organization makes it unique—it is truly 

an organization that stretches from Vancouver to Vladivostok, and 

we want to strengthen the important transatlantic link in order for 

the OSCE and the Parliamentary Assembly to be able to meet all 

the numerous challenges in the OSCE world. 

Today, Europe is doing well. It is whole and it is free, and it is 

in peace. Its security is better than ever, its economy is flourishing, 

and, particularly in its Eastern half, it is growing fast. Democracy 

and human rights have made dramatic progress since 1989. But in 

the young nations in the East, terrorism remains a threat and corruption and the lack of rule of law hamper economic progress. And 

there are still dictatorships in the OSCE area in the 21st Century—we did not expect this 15 years ago. So we still have a big 

job to do. 

Europe today is based on free nations coming together for the 

good of all. We must concentrate our efforts to maintain that spirit 

of cooperation. The Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty must be 

kept. We should strive for open skies and open military budgets 

and work for transparency and for civilian and parliamentary control of the military and security. And the European Union should 

continue to expand and I am personally in favor of EU membership 

for Turkey. 

And we must continue to try to find peaceful solutions to the unresolved, so-called ‘‘frozen’’ conflicts, in Nagorno-Karabakh, 

Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transdnistria, and, yes, Kosovo, all carry 

high human, economic and political costs. 

For almost four years, I have been actively involved in supporting the OSCE Minsk Group’s attempts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan about 

Nagorno-Karabakh. I have emphasized that I see ‘‘a golden opportunity’’ for a peace agreement. I still believe so. A good framework 

agreement has been presented by the Minsk Group, led by France, 

Russia and the United States. It is ready to be signed by the leaders of the two countries, if the political will is there. 

The alternative, a new war, is unthinkable. The advantages of a 

peace accord for the whole region are huge. With peace, all three 

countries in the South Caucasus could, together, start to strive to 

build a region characterized by security, democracy, and prosperity. 

23 

What happens in the East, in the Ukraine, Belarus, and in the 

Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia, is crucially important to 

all of Europe and to North America. However, we must also understand the difficulties facing newly created nations in building 

strong independent and democratic societies. The completion of 

that task will not happen overnight and that is why the elections 

in Serbia last January pleased me so much, for they showed that 

even in a country so recently involved in conflict and war, can, if 

the political will is there, make substantive strides towards democracy. Serbia’s free and fair elections were impressive. 

For the OSCE and its Parliamentary Assembly there are at least 

three important, unfinished tasks: the Balkans, the Caucasus, and 

Central Asia, and I believe that OSCE should now focus its work 

on conflict resolution and democracy building in the transitioning 

democracies in the East. These countries are full and equal members of the OSCE and its Parliamentary Assembly. We need to 

hear their voices in our meetings and our discussions. We strongly 

prefer co-operation and dialogue over isolation and silence. We 

should intensify a dialogue about common problems and the sharing of experiences and encourage regional cooperation, including 

trade—a prime motor in creating wealth. Where there is vibrant 

trade, there is usually peace. 

As the only regional organization in which North America, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Europe are all members, the OSCE 

is well suited to fulfill this task. In fact, its transatlantic and Central Asian dimensions make it not only unique, but also absolutely 

indispensable. 

A central theme of my Presidency has been to engage Central 

Asia in our work. That is why I earlier this year visited all five 

member states in Central Asia to encourage them to be active in 

the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and work towards greater regional parliamentary co-operation. That is why the Parliamentary 

Assembly has decided to hold next year’s Annual Session in 

Kazakhstan and why I, personally, support Kazakhstan’s candidacy 

for the OSCE Chairmanship in 2009. 

An Assembly initiative has recently been launched with the active support of the Nordic Council and its five Northern European 

member countries, to explore the possibility to host a conference 

this fall in Oslo, Norway, on encouraging greater regional parliamentary cooperation between the five Central Asian nations. 

I hope for a more active engagement from the United States in 

our efforts to reach out to the countries in Central Asia. 

The OSCE is not a diminishing Organization. Its work in conflict 

resolution and in strengthening democracy and human rights is 

crucial. We need a strong OSCE to contribute to solving the political, economic and social challenges facing our societies. Today, 

more than ever, we must use our organization as an instrument for 

political dialogue. 

The OSCE field missions are the heart of this Organization. The 

Assembly has reiterated that the OSCE must continue making full 

use of its field presence, providing them with all necessary means 

to increase their effectiveness. 

We need the active participation of the United States Congress 

and its members. For that, we need to find a mechanism that will 

24 

allow members of the U.S. Congress to travel and participate in the 

many international meetings and conferences taking place in the 

OSCE area. I don’t know how that mechanism could look, but this 

is a vitally important matter and I hope to be able to discuss it further during my visit here in Washington 

As President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly I have tried 

to further strengthen the role of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. It is an essential OSCE Institution and should be seen as an 

asset for the OSCE as a whole in order to provide assistance to the 

OSCE in helping solve remaining conflicts and preventing new 

ones from erupting; to increase the respect for human rights; to 

fight against human trafficking; and to strengthen OSCE election 

observation. 

The OSCE Charter for European Security adopted at the last 

Summit in Istanbul in 1999, adopted a resolution stating: 

‘‘The Parliamentary Assembly has developed into one of the most 

important OSCE institutions continuously providing news ideas 

and proposals. We welcome this increasing role, particularly in the 

field of democratic development and election monitoring.’’ 

Members of parliaments pass laws, approve national budgets and 

taxes, and scrutinize governments. Parliaments and parliamentarians also provide valuable assistance to international co-operation 

and development. The importance of parliamentary oversight and 

accountability in international organizations—including the 

OSCE—is essential and oversight mechanisms need to be built in 

to the system. 

The Parliamentary Assembly’s Brussels Declaration from 2006 

emphasized ‘‘the necessity of more effective enforcement of the 

monitoring mechanism of the work of the OSCE in order to increase the efficiency of the organization and to ensure a higher 

level of transparency and accountability in the Organization.’’ 

Unfortunately, not much has been achieved, at least so far, at 

OSCE headquarters in Vienna. But as we all try to promote democratic values and democratic ideas throughout the world, we must 

live as we preach. I am a strong believer in oversight, and I want 

to underline that it does not mean micromanagement. The Constitutional Committee of the Parliament of Sweden is always 

chaired by a member of the opposition, which we believe, enhances 

the oversight mechanism and power of our Parliament. Recently, I 

chaired the hearings on the then government’s action, or lack of action, in the aftermath of the Tsunami catastrophe in Thailand, 

where hundreds of Swedes died. The hearings further strengthened 

my belief in and support for parliamentary oversight. OSCE would 

be a stronger and more efficient organization if we parliamentarians had more and better insight into its work. 

Election observation is an important part of OSCE’s mandate. 

Since 1993, the OSCE PA has conducted close to 90 election observation missions with the participation of over 2,000 parliamentarians. Here, I would like to take the opportunity to encourage the 

members of the U.S. Congress to participate as much as possible 

in these observation missions. 

Election observation is important because it helps build democracy. It is important that we have high standards that are the 

same for all states, East or West of Vienna, and that double standVerDate Nov 24 2008 09:58 Dec 21, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 E:\WORK\101807.TXT HAROLD PsN: HAROLD
25 

ards are never acceptable. The leadership and presence of parliamentary observers at elections during transitional periods emphasizes the importance of legislatures as institutions that must 

provide a balance to executive authority. As parliamentarians are 

themselves directly elected public officials, their observations are of 

great value to the public and to the voters, as well as to local and 

international media. 

As stated in the Assembly’s Brussels Declaration (article 88), approved unanimously, of the Parliamentary Assembly’s role in 

OSCE election observation missions: 

‘‘(It) Urges the Parliamentary Assembly to continue to provide 

political leadership to the OSCE Election Observation Missions, 

with the technical, logistical and long-term observer support of 

ODIHR respecting the Co-operation Agreement and, if possible, reinforcing it.’’ 

I can assure you that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has 

faithfully observed the letter and the spirit of the Cooperation 

Agreement in every election observation mission since 1997. Regrettably, OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human 

Rights (ODIHR) has not done so in spite of our best efforts and 

with the strong support from the Spanish OSCE Chairmanship led 

by Spain’s Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. We need to 

find a solution to this issue. 

So far, this year, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has participated in and led four election observation missions: Serbia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. On December 2, elections to the 

Russian State Duma will take place. The OSCE has not yet been 

invited, but we hope and expect that we will be. In this context, 

I am pleased that Poland changed its mind and invited OSCE observers to the Polish elections on October 21. By signing the Copenhagen Document from 1990, all OSCE participating States have 

agreed that the presence of observers can enhance the electoral 

process. Indeed, this process has proven so important in the continued development of democracy within the OSCE area and it is vital 

that the OSCE is allowed to continue this important work. 

Let me conclude by once again thanking the U.S. Helsinki Commission for this opportunity to appear before you and discuss the 

vital issues of our day. 

I look forward to your questions. 

Thank you! 

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