Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Timeline: 50th Anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act

As the fault lines of the Cold War begin to take shape, the Soviet Union proposes the creation of a common European security conference for the first time at the 1954 Geneva Conference.

The Warsaw Pact officially calls for the creation of a European security conference, to which NATO agrees.

The Government of Finland, under President Urho Kekkonen, sends a memorandum to all European countries, along with the US and Canada, offering to host the conference in Helsinki.

US President Richard Nixon and the Soviet Union’s Leonid Brezhnev reach an agreement to hold negotiations and sign SALT I three days later.

Multilateral consultations on the creation of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) begin, resulting in the ‘Blue Book’ of final recommendations.

The first stage of the CSCE takes place at the ministerial level, with 35 participating states; the Blue Book is adopted and the Helsinki process starts, establishing the framework for the conference.

The second stage of the CSCE negotiations, separated into three ‘baskets’ of security: political/military, economic & environmental, and human. The final act is drafted.

The third stage of the CSCE is held at the level of heads of state or government; the 35 participating states sign the Helsinki Final Act.

First follow-up meeting of the Helsinki Final Act.

The Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan begins, raising tensions after almost ten years of détente. The US boycotts the Moscow summer Olympics in 1980.

The CSCE’s second follow-up meeting in Madrid.

First conference on the human dimension in Paris.

The fall of the Berlin wall marks the beginning of the end of the Warsaw pact and with it, the Cold War.

The Vienna mechanism, allowing participating states to formally raise questions about the human security situation in other CSCE member states, is established.

First conference on the economic dimension in Bonn.

The second CSCE summit is held with 35 participant states, resulting in the Charter of Paris and marking the formal end of the Cold War. The Council of Ministers, a Permanent Secretariat, Conflict Prevention Centre, and Office of Free Elections are established. The first Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, a cornerstone of conventional stability and security from the Atlantic to the Urals, is signed. Germany is given the role of being the first country to hold the CSCE chairpersonship.

The Yugoslav Wars begin.

The CSCE Parliamentary Assembly is established, strengthening the democratic mandate of the CSCE. Today consisting of 323 members, the Parliamentary Assembly drafts recommendations and facilitates dialogue between parliamentarians of all participating states. Its international secretariat is located in Copenhagen.

The Office for Free Elections, to be renamed Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) a year later, is established in Warsaw and Luchino Cortese is appointed its first director.

The first Council of Ministers of foreign affairs is held in Berlin. The Ministerial Council is the central decision-making and governing body of the OSCE, and provides participating States an opportunity to review and assess the Organization’s activities and strengthen the dialogue on security issues in the OSCE area.

The Moscow mechanism is established. Building on the Vienna mechanism, it allows participating states to establish ad hoc missions of experts to monitor and assist with problems related to the human dimension in other CSCE participating states. To date, it has been used 15 times.

The CSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Helsinki establishes the Conference on Nagorno-Karabakh and creates the Minsk Process (officially known as the OSCE Minsk group) to facilitate a peaceful solution to the conflict. The Treaty on Open Skies is signed by 23 countries, but will not enter into force until 10 years later because of a delay in ratification by Russia.

The third CSCE summit was the first time participation was expanded to post-Soviet as well as states that had broken free from the former Yugoslavia, with 52 participating states adopting the final document. This led to the establishment of a High Commissioner on national minorities, provisions for crisis management and conflict prevention established, the Office of Free Elections becomes the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and receives an extended mandate. Yugoslavia is suspended from the CSCE through the consensus minus one-mechanism, never to return.

The third Ministerial Council establishes the post of Secretary General of the CSCE. Max van der Stoel from the Netherlands is appointed as the first CSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities.

Appointment of the first CSCE Secretary General, Ambassador Wilhelm Höynck of Germany.

The first CSCE Missions are established in North Macedonia, Estonia, Moldova, and Latvia.

The European Union is formally established through the Maastricht Treaty. The treaty also established "a common foreign and security policy including the eventual framing of a common defence", adding a new layer to Europe's security architecture. The EU has been a formal participant in the OSCE since 2006, and the two organizations cooperate on a broad range of issues including anti-corruption, human rights, media and democracy.

The fourth Ministerial Council formalizes the CSCE’s legal capacities, privileges and immunities. The CSCE Permanent Secretariat is moved to Vienna, where it remains today.

The CSCE Mission to Tajikistan is deployed.

The fourth CSCE summit, with 54 participating states, adopts the Budapest document. The name of the organization is transitioned from the CSCE to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in exchange for security guarantees. Five days later, the first Chechen War breaks out.

Signing of the Dayton Peace Accords. The OSCE was mandated by Annex 1B of the Accords to help elaborate and implement three instruments: an agreement on confidence- and security-building measures (CSBMs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (under Article II); a sub-regional arms control agreement (Article IV); and a regional arms control agreement applicable "in and around the former Yugoslavia" (Article V).

The fifth OSCE Ministerial Council met in Budapest to discuss the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

The Permanent Council in Vienna decides to open an OSCE Mission to Croatia.

The fifth OSCE summit, consisting of 55 participating states, adopts the Lisbon Document as a Declaration on a Common and Comprehensive Security Model for Europe for the 21st century, including a framework for arms control.

The OSCE’s in-country presence expands, with missions established in Albania, Georgia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan.

Appointment of the first Representative on Freedom of Media, Freimut Duve of Germany.

The Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) to monitor the ceasefire between Kosovo and Serbia. The mission worked closely with the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR), which remained in the country after the KVM mandate ended in 1999.

OSCE missions established in Kosovo, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

The sixth OSCE summit adopts a Charter for European Security and sign the adapted Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE).

The first OSCE Conference with Asian partners for cooperation takes place. These conferences were held every year until 2022.

Large-scale terrorist attacks in the United States. In response, NATO's Article 5 is triggered for the first and only time in history. 

The 10th Ministerial Council signs a charter on Preventing and Combatting Terrorism.

The United States-led coalition (including the United Kingdom, Poland, and Australia) invades Iraq.

The OSCE assists in consolidating democracy in Georgia following the Rose Revolution.

The Permanent Council establishes the OSCE Mission to Montenegro.

Russia announces that it will suspend compliance with the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE).

Ministerial Council declaration of the Corfu Process as a way to take forward the dialogue on European security.

The 7th OSCE summit adopts the Astana declaration, reaffirming the participants’ commitment to OSCE principles.

Russia annexes Crimea from Ukraine and sends troops to start insurgencies in Luhansk and Donbas; the OSCE Permanent Council deploys a special monitoring mission in response.

The US announces that it will withdraw from the Treaty on Open Skies after a request to conduct aerial surveillance of a military exercise in Russia was denied the year before. A few months later, in early 2021, Russia announces it will follow suit.

Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The special monitoring mission that was deployed in 2014 is evacuated, and its mandate not extended due to Russian veto. However, a new monitoring mission is set up under the Moscow mechanism, examining Russian human rights violations in Ukraine.

For the first time, the Russian delegation was not invited to participate in a Ministerial due to its invasion of fellow participating state, Ukraine.

Russia fully withdraws from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), with NATO de facto doing the same in response.

Malta is announced as OSCE chairperson of 2024 at Skopje Ministerial, just one month before the beginning of its mandate. Secretary General Helga Schmid’s term, along with those of the Director of ODIHR, the High Commissioner on National Minorities, and the Representative on Freedom of the Media, is extended for nine months due to difficulties in achieving consensus on their successors.

Secretary General Helga Schmid’s term lapses, leaving the OSCE with no Secretary General for the first time since the role was established in December 1992.

Türkiye’s Feridun Sinirlioğlu is appointed the seventh Secretary General of the OSCE at the Valletta Ministerial.

Finland takes over the chairpersonship of the OSCE for its 50th anniversary, with the goal of rekindling the spirit of Helsinki and tackling the challenges facing the organization.