Q&A: A view from inside
Marianne von Grunigen, former Head of the Swiss Delegation, gives an insider's account of how the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) evolved into the OSCE, the largest regional security Organization in the world.
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Ambassador Marianne von Grunigen was Head of the Swiss Delegation to the OSCE from June 1997 till May 2001. Born in Zurich in 1936, she joined the Swiss Foreign Service in 1967. From 1989 to 1993 she covered the CSCE negotiations, and co-ordinated the drafting of the 1990 Paris Charter, a landmark document that paved the way for the transformation of the CSCE into the OSCE.
What were your first impressions of the CSCE process?
My first impressions were that it was an excellent achievement to start a political process in Europe where East and West were sitting around the table and trying to work towards a better understanding, especially to be active in favour of people who suffered on the other side of what was then called the "Iron Curtain". I was mentally very much supporting all these activities, even though I was not directly involved at this stage.
I then had some practical possibilities to contribute to the implementation of some principles and commitments of the Helsinki Final Act, when I served in Moscow from 1982 to 1986.
I also thought it was an important task to negotiate confidence- and security-building measures, however I was convinced that we not only need such measures in the politico-military areas, but also in the human dimension. That was the early impression that I had.
What practical measures in implementing the Helsinki Final Act principles were you involved in?
Of course, it was impossible in those days that they would visit the Swiss Embassy. But we frequently made demarches in the Foreign Ministry, stating for instance that we have heard of some events and appealed to stop ill-treatments or release the dissident concerned.
One of the persons that we particularly took care of was Professor Sakharov. He was in those days held with his wife in Gorky and we were very worried about his health and destiny.
This kind of interventions, also in favor of quite a lot of other dissidents, was a direct implementation of the Helsinki Final Act.
How would you evaluate the overall development of the CSCE?
The crucial point was 1989, when the Berlin Wall crumbled. For me it was a particular event, because I came back from Helsinki to Bern to be, among other topics, responsible for the CSCE on 6 November 1989. On 9 November, the Berlin Wall was starting to fall to pieces.
In that period the crucial question was: has the CSCE now fulfilled its tasks? Can we say - wonderful, East-West problems have been overcome, or should we say we have to try to find out what we can do with CSCE in order to make it useful also in this post-cold war period?
The answer was the Charter of Paris. I am very happy until now that the answer was positive. What we in Switzerland, and myself personally, thought from the beginning was that the CSCE can survive if it becomes operational.
One of my real desires was that we would go into the countries with a potential of crisis. Even though the table with 55 delegations would still remain necessary for negotiation and political dialogue, we should also have the possibility to talk directly to the authorities and work together with the population in the field, aiming at more stability. And this is what we have today with the Missions and the activities of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the High Commissioner on National Minorities, and the Representative on Freedom of the Media.
You returned to the OSCE in 1997 as Head of the Swiss Delegation. Had the OSCE changed?
The great satisfaction was that the OSCE has really become an Organization for crisis management. When I retuned, we focused on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, then Croatia. Very soon our main burden became Kosovo with moments of high tension, like the evacuation of the Kosovo Verification Mission, and intensive work to build up the new Mission in Kosovo in close co-operation with the United Nations (UNMIK). Here we realized that we had aquired the experience to be effective in such delicate situations, but also that we still have to improve our means.
The unique possibility of the OSCE is to be ready on the spot earlier than any other organization. Our mechanisms today are such that, if the political will is there, we can also act.
Are you in favour of more visibility for the Organization?
First of all I think visibility is important for the populations of the countries in which where we are operating. That is one point.
Visibility is also very important for our own countries, the participating States, because we need the support of our governments, very often even of our parliaments, for our activities, in particular when we need at once a considerable amount of money.
When the public opinion, when parliament, our authorities know more about the Organization, not only through reports, they can get a more objective idea of what the OSCE does, how it operates, and are more inclined to support the Organization politically and financially.