The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe,North America,and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control,the promotion of human rights,freedom of the press,and free and fair elections. It employs around 3,460 people,mostly in its field operations but also in its secretariat in Vienna,Austria,and its institutions. It has observer status at the United Nations.
The Watergate scandal was a significant political controversy in the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974,ultimately resulting in Nixon's resignation. It originated from attempts by the Nixon administration to conceal its involvement in the June 17,1972,break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters located in the Watergate Office Building in Washington,D.C.
The Supreme People's Assembly is the legislature of North Korea. It is ostensibly the highest organ of state power and the only branch of government in North Korea,with all state organs subservient to it under the principle of unified power. However,in practice it is a rubber stamp legislature which exists to approve decisions made by the ruling party as a formality,and which has little to no real power of its own.
Jerry S. Grafstein,B.A.,J.D.,Q.C.,is a Canadian lawyer,businessman,and politician who served in the Senate of Canada from 1984 to 2010. Grafstein was the longest-serving member of the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He served as co-chair of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group and as a senior officer of the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly for over a decade.
Rufus Lige Edmisten is an American attorney who served as North Carolina Secretary of State,Attorney General,and was the Democratic nominee for Governor in 1984. He is currently a lawyer in private practice.
The Young Democrats of America (YDA) is the youth wing of the Democratic Party of the United States. YDA operates as a separate organization from the Democratic National Committee;following the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act,it became an independent 527 organization. The group's membership consists of Democrats from ages 14 to 35,and its political activities include an emphasis on increasing the voter turnout of young people.
Robert Brian Gibbs is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Ohio's 7th congressional district from 2011 to 2023. He is a member of the Republican Party. In April 2022,Gibbs announced he was not seeking reelection.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE is an institution of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The primary task of the 323-member Assembly is to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue,an important aspect of the overall effort to meet the challenges of democracy throughout the OSCE area. The Parliamentary Assembly pursues objectives which are stated in the preamble of the Assembly's Rules of Procedure:assess the implementation of OSCE objectives by participating States;discuss subjects addressed during meetings of the Ministerial Council and summit meetings of OSCE Heads of State or Government;develop and promote mechanisms for the prevention and resolution of conflicts;support the strengthening and consolidation of democratic institutions in OSCE participating States;contribute to the development of OSCE institutional structures and of relations and co-operation between existing OSCE institutions.
Pia Christmas-Møller is a Danish politician,a member of parliament from 1987 until 2011. She represented the Conservative People's Party from 1987 until 2007 and led her party between 1998 and 1999. From 2007 until 2011 she sat as an Independent.
Guglielmo Picchi is an Italian politician.
Angelo "Anġlu" Farrugia is a Maltese politician and the current Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta. Previously he served Deputy Leader of the Labour Party,a Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for work,workers' rights and parliamentary affairs.
Petros Efthymiou is a Greek academic and politician of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement. A former minister and MEP,he is currently the parliamentary spokesman of his party.
Teuta Arifi is a Macedonian politician of Albanian origin.
Jürgen Klimke is a German politician and member of the conservative party CDU —Christian Democratic Union of Germany. From 1982 to 2002 he was member of the Parliament of the Free and Federal State of Hamburg. Between 2002 and 2017,he represented Hamburg in the German Federal Parliament.
Michael Georg Link is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has served a member of the Bundestag from 2005 to 2013 and again since 2017. In addition to his parliamentary mandate,he has been serving as the Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation at the Federal Foreign Office in the coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz since 2022.
Pia Liisa Kauma is a Finnish politician who serves as a Member of the Finnish parliament and as a member of the City Council of Espoo,representing the National Coalition Party. Kauma is also a member of the Finnish delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and currently serves as the president of the organization.
Anita M. Vandenbeld is a Canadian politician,who was elected to represent the riding of Ottawa West—Nepean for the Liberal Party of Canada in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 Canadian federal election. She was re-elected in the same riding in 2019,and re-elected in 2021.
Matteo Mecacci is an Italian diplomat serving as director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR). In the past,he was a Radical Party Member of Parliament in Italy and elected in the lists of the Democratic Party,President of the International Campaign for Tibet and leading advocate for the International Criminal Court,the abolition of the death penalty,religious freedom and other prominent human rights campaigns.
Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi is a Maltese politician. He serves as Minister of Public Works and Planning in Prime Minister Robert Abela’s cabinet. He was first elected Member of Parliament for the 5th Electoral District in 2017.
Armenia–OSCE relations began when Armenia joined the OSCE's predecessor,the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE),on 30 January 1992. The CSCE transformed into the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) shortly afterwards in 1995.
