Gender, conflict settlement and democratization: Prospects and challenges for the OSCE agenda

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As Sweden pushes gender to the center of its chairpersonship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Swedish ambassador to the OSCE presents their expectations for change. Following this, we zoom in on conflict as the Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre outlines the role of the organization in conflict prevention and settlement. Finally, we turn to democratization and democracy, as the Deputy Secretary General of the International Secretariat of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly  (located in Copenhagen) discusses the status and challenges of their work within the wider European region.

Established as the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe in 1975, the OSCE has since grown into the largest regional security organization in the world. A promoter of important norms, such as human rights, democracy and the peaceful settlement of conflicts, the OSCE is a central pillar of European security and stability, but it also finds itself under pressure from critics, who find that the OSCE is interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign states and may even be biased in its upholding of said norms.

Speakers

• Ambassador and Head of Task Force Swedish OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Petra Lärke: The agenda of the Swedish chairpersonship
• Ambassador Tuula Yrjölä, Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre: The OSCE in conflict prevention and settlement
• Deputy Secretary General Gustavo Pallares, the International Secretariat of the OSCE PA: Promoting democracy in the wider European region
• Flemming Splidsboel Hansen, Senior Researcher, DIIS

Programme
14.00-14.05   Welcome, Flemming Splidsboel Hansen
14.05-15.55   Petra Lärke, The agenda of the Swedish chairpersonship
                        Tuula Yrjölä, The OSCE in conflict prevention and settlement
                        Gustavo Pallares, Promoting democracy in the wider European region
15.55-16.00   Concluding remarks, Flemming Splidsboel Hansen
    
Recorded on Wednesday 21 April 2021, 14.00-16.00