Head of the OSCE Documentation Center in Prague Jan Pleschinger met with students of the Faculty of International Relations of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv on March 21, 2017. During the meeting, certain issues were raised about the work of the OSCE and Documentation Center in Prague (Czech Republic).
Jan Pleschinger briefed about the history of the Center and focused on its main tasks.
“The OSCE Documentation Center in Prague handles all the information about the organization, distributes it and performs administrative functions. In cooperation with the Secretariat of the OSCE the Center organizes annual forums on economic and environmental issues in Prague. Such events are crucial for the OSCE in the security of economic and environmental sphere“, – said Jan Pleschinger.
The Head of the OSCE Documentation Center in Prague also talked about the opportunities of the organization, as well as the OSCE mission and work in conflict zones in different countries.
OSCE is an important tool of versatile diplomacy in conflict prevention and crisis management. At present, about 2.5 thousand representatives of the organization are working in 18 missions in 16 countries, including South-Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia.
Jan Pleschinger focused attention on the geography of OSCE missions and noted that the mandates of the work of each mission can take various forms, depending on the situation and needs of the host country. “They include support and consulting services in the field of promoting democracy and the rule of law, human rights and minority rights, as well as promoting the development of civil society”, – said Jan Pleschinger.
During the meeting, different types of the work of OSCE were also discussed, including its cooperation with various institutions and features of missions in Ukraine, Moldova, the western Balkans, the Caucasus, the Baltic countries and Central Asia.
The students asked the guest questions about current work of the organization, learned about youth projects provided by the OSCE, and watched a short video about the work of the organization.