Activities of the Permanent Delegation of the BIH Parliament During The 22nd Annual Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE

A delegation of the BiH Parliament made up of Dragan Čović, Mirza Kušljugić and Lazar Prodanović during the five-day 22^nd annual session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul participated in numerous meetings where they discussed a number of resolutions, political issues, security, economy, ecology, human rights, democracy and humanitarian issues.

At a meeting of the General Committee for Political Issues and Security a resolution was adopted in which stronger transparency of military international agreements on the control of arms was adopted.

Also, two additional resolutions that are based on the role of local and regional authority in post-conflict scenarios was adopted, as well as the expansion of partnership with Mediterranean countries that are not OSCE member countries, including the Palestinian National Authority.

The General Committee on Economic Issues, Science, Technology and the Environment adopted a resolution that calls on bigger international cooperation in resolving environmental and economic challenges.

The resolution calls on OSCE to take measures so that by 2015, when it will be 40 years since the adoption of the Helsinki Final Act, the economic and environmental dimension would become the central pillar of the Helsinki 40+ process.

In the session of the General Committee for Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues a resolution was adopted that calls on the government to respect freedom of expression, rule of law and independence of the judiciary, and enables visits of the international community to political prisoners.

The resolution also calls on an increase in the participation of civil society, public and the media in the OSCE, as well as for the government to have a stronger approach in the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery and a pledge to abolish the death penalty.

At the 22^nd annual session, more than 323 representatives of parliaments from 56 countries in Europe, the US and Central Asia attended, announced the BiH Parliament.