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Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

The Department for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have been closely collaborating for the past years on various thematic issues, challenges and conflicts affecting the European continent. This partnership is motivated by the shared goal to strengthen international security and prevent conflicts using multilateral tools and mechanisms of high-level dialogue. To deepen this cooperation and in order to advance the Secretary-General’s objective of strengthening partnerships under Chapter VIII, the Department of Political Affairs established a Liaison Office in Vienna in October 2016. In addition to supporting senior-level and working-level engagements between both organizations on a broad range of issues, the Liaison Office channels expertise from various departments of the UN Secretariat to the OSCE, including by ensuring effective information sharing on relevant peace and security issues as well as relevant policy documents. The Liaison Office also supports inter-agency forums that are regularly organized to facilitate and support high-level and working-level engagements between both organizations.

DPPA's Policy and Mediation Division and the OSCE Secretariat’s Conflict Prevention Centre and its Operations Service signed a joint workplan for mediation support in 2014, outlining several practical areas of cooperation between the two organizations, including staff exchanges, access to mediation expertise and capacity building. In December 2019, the UN Secretary-General and the Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE issued a joint statement to complement the 1993 Framework for Cooperation and Coordination between the two organizations, marking almost three decades of mutually beneficial partnership  and seeking to continue and further strengthen the cooperation and coordination between the UN Secretariat and the OSCE in all areas of mutual interest, in particular, those relating to the maintenance of international peace and security, the promotion of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.