The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (formerly known as the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe) is the world’s largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control and the promotion of human rights, freedom of the press and fair elections. It has 550 staff at its headquarters in Vienna, Austria, and 2,300 field staff. It has its origins in the 1975 Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland.

PARTICIPATING STATES: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbardos, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kits and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago,United States of America, Uruguay, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

PARTNER STATES: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia; and Afghanistan, Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Thailand.

KEY PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS: United Nations, European Union, Council of Europe, and NATO.