The 29th Annual Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) continues in Birmingham, UK.At yesterday's session of the Assembly's Plenary Session, MP Kyriakos Hatzigiannis presented a report on his recent activities as Special Representative of the OSCE PA. OSCE Special Representative for Civil Society Participation. Among other things, Mr. Hatzigiannis referred to his participation in the events marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), where he had contacts with NGO representatives in the margins of the events. In addition, he participated in a meeting of the Civil Society Platform at which the challenges facing the OSCE in terms of the human dimension were discussed.
Stressing the importance of the participation of civil society organisations in OSCE activities, Mr Hatzigiannis expressed his satisfaction at the significant improvement in cooperation between the OSCE CSO and civil society in the areas of election monitoring, field visits and consultations.
In this context, the Cypriot MP referred to the organisation, on his own initiative, of a consultation of parliamentarians of members of the CoE. OSCE parliamentarians with representatives of civil society last month. During the discussion, recommendations and comments were made by the representatives of civil society on the draft reports and resolutions of the General Committees of the Assembly, which were subsequently incorporated by the Members of the Assembly in the final resolutions. Mr Hatzigiannis expressed the hope for the continuation of such initiatives in the coming years.
Moreover, in the context of yesterday's plenary session, Mr. Hatzigianni, having the general command of the mission of the C.S. OSCE mission to observe the recent presidential and parliamentary elections in Serbia, informed the Assembly Members about the main conclusions drawn from the supervision of the electoral process and the shortcomings observed on the day of the elections.
In addition, at sessions of the Committee on Political Affairs and Security and the Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Mr Hatzigiannis presented amendments on the prevention of the use of nuclear weapons, cooperation between European countries in the field of fire-fighting, the condemnation of the creation of conditions in certain OSCE participating States that unduly hamper the functioning of non-governmental organisations and the importance of conducting election observation missions and monitoring the conclusions drawn from such missions.
Finally, Mr. Hatzigiannis, in his capacity as Vice-Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Migration, participated in a meeting of the Committee, where the current migration situation in a number of countries was discussed.
(Text as sent by the House of Representatives)
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