International legal aspects of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE)

Abstract

Part I of this study deals with the CSCE and its constitutive instruments. Chapter I gives a general account of the genesis of the Conference; its inception; its goals; its participants. Chapter II enters into a detailed examination of the major CSCE instrument, which is the Helsinki Final Act of 1975. In particular, this chapter illustrates the ten principles incorporated in the Declaration of Principles of the Final Act, and their relevance in international law. Subsequently, Chapter III embarks upon a legal appraisal of the Helsinki Final Act, trying to attest its relationship with customary international and the legal stature of the Act itself. We shall discuss the extent to which the Final Act is legally relevant; how it restates existing principles of law; how it assists in their interpretation and its association with the concept of 'soft law'. Having considered the 'making' of the CSCE from an international legal perspective, Part II then turns on to discuss the evolution of the organisation of the CSCE from a mere debating forum to an operative organisation with its own structures and institutions. This shall be done in Chapter IV which shall also examine the requisites of such organisations under the law of international institutions and attest whether the CSCE qualifies as an international organisation proper. Chapter V will then examine the legal implications of the recent establishment of the CSCE as a regional arrangement of the United Nations. Again we shall examine whether the CSCE may rightly be said to qualify as such arrangement and if so, then, to what extent may it be said that the CSCE has become part of a global scheme within the framework of the United Nations. Finally, Part III is dedicated to two specific areas of action in which the CSCE has worked. In Chapter VI we shall examine the CSCE's contribution in the field of human rights. In particular, we shall see how it has enabled the establishment of common human rights standards which applied for the first time on a truly pan-European basis. In this context, the convergence of ideas between East and West on international legal principles such as that of 'non-intervention in domestic affairs', has been achieved. More importantly, we shall assess the Human Dimension Mechanism which was launched by the CSCE; its effectiveness and its prospects in the safeguarding of human rights in Europe. Chapter VII explores the CSCE's commitment to 'peaceful settlement of disputes'. In particular this chapter, critically analyses the mechanisms that the CSCE has created for peaceful settlement of disputes in the European region. These include the Valletta Mechanism as well as the recently adopted Convention on Conciliation and Arbitration Within the CSCE. In each of these Chapters, the primary focus is on how the CSCE has contributed both to the consolidation as well as to the development of international law. To this extent it shall be argued that international law must also concern itself with structures which - like the CSCE - although being essentially political in nature, have been successful in enhancing the fulfilment by States of their obligations under international law.