R. Spencer Oliver | |
---|---|
Secretary General Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe | |
In office 1992–2015 [1] | |
Succeeded by | Roberto Montella |
R. Spencer Oliver (born 1937)[ citation needed ] was the first Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA). A lawyer by training,[ citation needed ] Oliver previously served 22 years as a staff member in the U.S. Congress,including as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Helsinki Commission from 1976 to 1985 and as Chief Counsel of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives until January 1993. [2] He also served in several senior diplomatic positions on U.S. delegations to CSCE Review and Expert Meetings between 1977 and 1993. Long active in Democratic Party politics,Oliver's phone was tapped in the Watergate scandal.[ citation needed ]
During the first of the two Watergate burglaries,two phones inside the offices of the Democratic National Committee headquarters had wiretaps placed inside them. One of those phones was the phone of Spencer Oliver who at the time was working as the executive director of the Association of State Democratic Chairmen,the other was the phone of the secretary of Democratic National Chairman Larry O'Brien. The tap on Oliver's phone was the only one that worked,but primarily revealed only that Oliver "was quite the ladies' man:he spent a lot of time on the phone lining up cross-country trysts." [3]
R. Spencer Oliver had been the secretary general of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe since its inception,having been chosen as the Assembly's first general secretary by the Bureau in a meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in October 1992. He was elected by the standing committee of the organization in January 1993,and was reelected in 1995,2000,2005,and 2010. He did not seek reelection in 2015,and retired at the end of that year. The Secretary General's mandate includes responsibility for managing the affairs of the Assembly,ensuring the efficiency of the Secretariat,and carrying out the decisions of the Bureau,the Standing Committee and the Assembly. He reports to the President,the Bureau,the Standing Committee and the Annual Session. [4] Although Oliver was criticized by the former Minister of Defense of Latvia,who ran against him in 2010,Oliver was reelected with more than 95% of the vote. [5] [6]
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control,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.
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's attempts to cover up its involvement in the June 17,1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington,D.C. at the Watergate Office Building.
The Supreme People's Assembly is the unicameral legislature of North Korea. It consists of one deputy from each of North Korea's 687 constituencies,elected to five-year terms.
Solomon Isaac Passy is a Bulgarian scientist,politician,and innovator,founder and President of the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria,Foreign Minister in the 2001–2005 Sakskoburggotski Government,Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2004. He represented Bulgaria at UN Security Council and was its Chairman,and was nominated by Bulgaria for Secretary General of NATO (2009).
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.
Elections in North Korea are held every four-to-five years for the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA),the country's national legislature,and every four years for Local People's Assemblies.
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.
The Vilnius Declaration was a declaration adopted by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) during the 18th annual session of its parliamentary assembly,that took place in Vilnius from 29 June to 3 July 2009.
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Resolution 1416 (2005),titled “The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference”,is a resolution of PACE about the situation on occupied territories currently in the possession of Azerbaijan by Armenian military forces,adopted by PACE on January 25,2005.
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.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)