Regional systems 123 CHAPTER XIII THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND CO-OPERATION IN EUROPE Summary: The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has played an important role in the development of normative and institutional instruments for the promotion and protection of minority rights. The Copenhagen Document on the Human Dimension contains one of the most comprehensive sets of international minority rights standards, and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities is the only permanent international body for the prevention of inter-ethnic conflict within and between States. Other OSCE bodies are also relevant for the protection of minority rights. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) conducts extensive human rights activities in the field of human rights education, monitoring and the promotion of tolerance and non-discrimination. It has a department dedicated to improving the lives of Roma and Sinti. OSCE field operations also engage in work which is relevant for minority groups, for example, through building Government and civil society capacity for good governance, economic participation and human rights. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a security body whose 56 participating States span the geographical area from Vancouver to Vladivostok.147 Recognized as a regional arrangement under Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations, OSCE is primarily an instrument for early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and postconflict rehabilitation. Prior to 1995, OSCE was known as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and was an intergovernmental diplomatic conference, also known as the “Helsinki process”, begun during the 1970s as a forum for East–West dialogue during the cold war. As the descendant of this process, OSCE is still primarily a security organization, aimed at achieving security and stability for all its members through a process of cooperation. OSCE makes decisions by consensus; thus, all participating States may be considered to have made political commitments to respect OSCE resolutions, declarations and similar acts. The OSCE approach regarding respect for human rights is embodied in the notion of “comprehensive security”, which recognizes three main dimensions of security: politico-military, economic and environmental, and human. The organization therefore addresses a wide range of security-related concerns (e.g., arms control, non-proliferation, the destruction of weapons systems, military reforms, combating terrorism, and confidence- and security-building measures), economic and environmental issues (e.g., transport networks, water management, protection of land and good governance in economic matters) and the human dimension (human rights, national minorities, democratization, election observation, the rule of law, policing and humanitarian issues). The interdependence of military and political security and human rights, as well as economic and environmental concerns, was recognized in the 1975 Helsinki Final Act. This document established 10 fundamental principles governing the behaviour of participating The participating States are: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, the Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, and Uzbekistan. 147