number of participating States and its co-operative approach based on equality and consensus. Because of its purely political character and its extremely small bureaucracy, the OSCE proved to be able to react rapidly and flexibly to political level. Finally, the more than 20 OSCE field operations in Central and Eastern Europe, South Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia have evolved into important instruments for early-warning, the prevention or management of conflicts or for the restoration of peace and stability. The OSCE at the beginning of the 21st century: New risks and challenges THE OSCE MUST DO EVERYTHING TO RETAIN ITS FLEXIBILITY At the beginning of the 21st century, European security structures face numerous new risks and challenges. Internal conflicts, often triggered by human rights violations, increasingly take the place of classic wars between countries. Religious and ethnic tensions, international terrorism, violent extremism and the spread of light arms jeopardize the fragile democratization processes in the OSCE area and also have the potential to threaten the stability of developed democracies. Phenomena like trafficking in human beings, organized crime, corruption and drug smuggling demand a strong response by the international community. The socalled frozen conflicts in Abkhazia, South-Ossetia, NagornoKarabakh and Transdniestria need to be resolved peacefully and permanently. Finally, reinforced efforts are needed to succeed with the post-conflict rehabilitation on the Balkans and the Caucasus. changed situations. This is true for the refinement of its normative basis as much as for the adaptation of its institutional instruments as well as for its activities on the ground. In particular when it comes to dealing with new types of internal conflict, the OSCE can do a lot. Just to mention in this respect the above-mentioned invalidity of the noninterference principle and the OSCE’s co-operative, nonconfrontational character. The fact that OSCE activities – because of their complexity or preventive character – often are not in the public spotlight is conducive to the participating States willingness to ask the OSCE for assistance. With its many field operations, the OSCE is present on the ground in many places where security and stability are at risk. The ODIHR and other institutions have evolved into effective instruments to promote human rights and democracy in the OSCE area. The OSCE with its 55 participating States is particularly well-placed to tackle many of these challenges. Unlike similar international organizations with partly overlapping mandates, the OSCE can make use of its unique, comprehensive security concept, its broad regional scope, its large 14 subscribe to the principle of conditionality and link their support to respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. This is all the more important as the OSCE itself is not in the position to supplement its democratization assistance with economic incentives. What can the OSCE do to further improve its capabilities to react to new risks and challenges? First, the professionalization of the OSCE’s personnel has to continue. As regards field personnel, the 1999 Istanbul Summit made an important step by creating Rapid Expert Assistance and Co-operation Teams (REACT), a reservoir of qualified experts which can be deployed quickly in crisis situations. Finally, the OSCE should not forget about refining and improving its normative basis. Since its inception the CSCE/ OSCE has played a pioneering role in the field of standardsetting by developing politically binding commitments which later were used as basis for the creation of legallybinding instruments. There are still a number of gaps to be closed, for example in the field of children’s rights. Secondly, the OSCE must do everything to retain its flexibility, one of its greatest comparative advantages. This means that the OSCE should stick to a small and cost-efficient administration and to the current decentralized structures marked by relatively autonomous field operations and institutions. An active and skilful chairmanship can use the substantial room for manoeuvre that this function entails to contribute to mitigate the disadvantages that come with the consensus principle. By creating REACT and a permanent operation centre within its secretariat the OSCE already enhanced its ability to rapidly deploy qualified experts to crisis areas. Even though more than 25 years have passed since the signing of the Helsinki Final Act, the OSCE is still a young, dynamic and flexible organization. Provided it can retain these strengths, the OSCE will continue to respond effectively and creatively to the new challenges we face at the beginning of the 21st century. Thirdly, the co-ordination of international efforts in the field of conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation needs to be further improved in order to use the resources available more efficiently and to ensure political and operational coherence among the different actors. The adoption of the “Platform for Co-operative Security” at the Istanbul Summit marked an important step in the right direction. Improving co-operation with financial institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is of particular importance, especially if these institutions T h e a u t h o r i s D i re c t o r o f t h e O D I H R . 15