European security mechanisms and security in Asia

First of all, I want to thank and congratulate the Japanese authorities for taking the initiative to organize this Conference.

This is a great chance to strengthen our shared security culture and, at the same time, it clearly shows the value of the model of international cooperation created by the OSCE Contact Group and its Asian Partners.

Sometimes, when we look at today’s security challenges, we wonder if our institutions are really able to respond to new threats. The OSCE also asks itself this question.

From an organization that originally grew out of the “détente” period, the OSCE managed to reinvent itself and provide very practical answers to the fast-moving events of the post–Cold War years. We can be proud to say that our results as an organization deserve a place in history.

But the real question is: will we be as useful in the future as we were in the past? Let’s be honest, and not just “politically correct”: we don’t yet know the answer.

It all depends on whether the OSCE can prove that it delivers practical solutions to the real concerns of the 55 States it brings together.

The changes in the security environment over the last few years have posed a tough test. If the OSCE is to be more than just a “talking shop”, we need to prove our added value. And this test becomes even more relevant when we go through moments as hard as the ones we face today.

September 11 was a powerful reminder that reality can be far more imaginative than men. When the Twin Towers collapsed, we suddenly joined together different pieces of a puzzle that had been in front of us all along, but which we had never fully recognized as part of the same picture. Many warning signs suddenly made sense in a new and more dangerous way.

The tragedy made it clear that only a shared commitment—only the will of those ready to fight for common values—could give us a chance to succeed. For some, this was a turning point with major strategic consequences. For others, it was about re-creating international stability and ensuring that our generation was able to defend itself against those who put it at risk.

I was in New York on that day, serving as Portugal’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. I lived through the emotions of the international community there, emotions that led the UN to adopt very quickly a set of Resolutions as a common response to the brutality we had all witnessed.

But let me be frank: we also knew that this moment of solidarity, though powerful, would not last forever. Internal pressures, regional situations, different perceptions and different political readings soon led to divisions. The best proof of this is the fact that we were still unable to agree on a Global Convention on Terrorism—because of disagreements, even over the very definition of terrorism itself.

From a simple viewpoint, this is unacceptable. If we are truly committed to fighting terrorism, we should be able to recognize it clearly and act against it without hesitation. Still, we also know that each context is different, and this makes the problem far more complex. Which is exactly why results are often less than we would hope.

This has been our own experience inside the OSCE. We are not NATO, a military alliance. We are not the European Union, an integration project with common policies. The OSCE is a very broad and diverse organization, with ties that stretch from Mexico to North Korea, and from Morocco to Japan.

This diversity shapes the way we deal with terrorism, because inside our own borders we face it in different forms—whether in Russia, in Northern Ireland, or in the Basque region of Spain. And outside, we have close contact with regions where instability risks producing new terrorist acts.

Of course, the effect of terrorism is always the same: innocent people lose their lives in brutal attacks. But if we want to act effectively, we need to look at the different causes and situations—not in order to justify terrorism, which can never be justified, but to fight it more effectively.

From this perspective, the Porto Charter on Preventing and Combating Terrorism in 2002 was an important step forward. Despite difficulties, we reached an agreement that brought together all 55 States of the OSCE. It struck a balance—security on the one hand, human rights and freedoms on the other. That is something we should be proud of.

And the OSCE’s work against terrorism did not begin or end with the Porto Charter. Previous efforts, like the Bucharest Plan of Action in 2001, created a framework for a wider fight against terrorism—always within the boundaries of international law. Later, the Bishkek Program made those principles more concrete.

During Portugal’s Chairmanship in 2002, our priority was exactly this: prevention and the fight against terrorism. We mobilized the whole Organization. In Lisbon, in June 2002, we brought together representatives of international and regional organizations to exchange views and evaluate anti-terror strategies. That meeting underlined OSCE’s long-term potential—not just in reacting to terrorism but in preventing it.

Later, under different Chairmanships, more instruments were added: the creation of the OSCE Action against Terrorism Unit in 2002, the Working Group in 2003, and the launch of the OSCE Counter-Terrorism Network in 2004, all of which show the OSCE’s determination to make a concrete contribution.

Looking at the progress, we can see results. Since September 11, the rate of ratifications of UN terrorism conventions has risen from 65% to 83%. Much still has to be done, but this shows we are moving in the right direction.

Right now, some key areas for OSCE are:

- Security of travel documents, to prevent their falsification.

- The threat of MANPADS to civil aviation, addressed in a pioneering workshop in Vienna.

- Closer cooperation with UN bodies, especially on terror financing and the link between organized crime and terrorism.

Let me conclude with this: much remains to be done, but the OSCE is taking its share of responsibility in building global security.

Thank you for your attention.Intervenção na OSCE- Japan Conference on “The search for conflict prevention in the new security circumstances – European security mechanisms and security in Asia”, Tokio, 2004