UN poll monitors in U.S."Election monitors that normally would be expected to observe elections in fledgling democracies like Azerbaijan and Moldova are scheduled to watch the vote in a more established democratic nation the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. ," reported Fox News on August 26. Responding to a request from 13 Democratic congressmen and the State Department, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), international organization established as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in 1973, during the cold war, to promote East-West cooperation. [OSCE OSCE Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe OSCE Organisation Pour la Sécurité et la Coopération en Europe (French: Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) OSCE Objective Structured Clinical Examination ] will be sending a group to make sure the United States holds a fair election in November." The invitation to the OSCE followed an earlier request from several congressional Democrats for UN election monitors. In recent years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time Vienna-based OSCE has dispatched monitors to elections in both Europe and the U.S. Representatives of the group were on hand to observe the 2002 U.S. congressional vote and California's gubernatorial recall election in 2003. In 1990, during the administration of the first President Bush, Washington signed a multilateral agreement amounting to a standing invitation to the OSCE to observe any member's election. Like NATO NATO: see North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO in full North Atlantic Treaty Organization International military alliance created to defend western Europe against a possible Soviet invasion. and other regional multilateral organizations, the OSCE is an affiliate of the United Nations. Soloman Passy, the group's current chairman-in-office (and minister of foreign affairs foreign affairs pl.n. Affairs concerning international relations and national interests in foreign countries. for Bulgaria), pointedly acknowledged as much during a May 7 briefing to the UN Security Council. The OSCE is "a regional arrangement as described in Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter," explained Passy. "With its specific expertise and with the unique activities it implements from Vancouver to Vladivostok, OSCE is a special partner of the United Nations." The group's UN-mandated projects include "working to control the spread of small arms small arms, firearms designed primarily to be carried and fired by one person and, generally, held in the hands, as distinguished from heavy arms, or artillery. Early Small Arms The first small arms came into general use at the end of the 14th cent. and light weapons"--that is, global gun control--and "coordinating assistance on the ratification and implementation of 12 United Nations conventions and protocols on anti terrorism." To that list will now be added: Monitoring the U.S. presidential elections on behalf of the UN. |
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