The role of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media consists in monitoring violations of freedom of the press, providing early warning to the governments concerned, sending observers to investigate the situation on the ground and submitting criticism to the Permanent Council.

In 2005, eight out of nine OSCE representatives are sent on international missions and 80º% of the budget is spent on OSCE field operations. The Missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Georgia help illustrate the OSCE's role as guarantor of security in Europe.

Owing to its expertise in the areas of early warning, conflict prevention and crisis management, the OSCE is instrumental in the fight against terrorism and organised crime. Related OSCE activities focus on police training and border control.

The OSCE Monitoring Mission in Skopje is tasked with reducing tensions and preventing a spillover of the conflict in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. OSCE efforts towards reconciliation of ethnic groups include police training and sponsorship of the South East Europe University project.

This video clip presents the OSCE’s role in the field of election monitoring: listening to voters and administration officials, giving advice and technical assistance, helping in the preparation of elections, and monitoring the ballot and vote counting. It describes the OSCE’s presence in countries in transition and in the new Eastern European democracies, such as Georgia, Ukraine and Russia, as well as in well-established Western democracies, such as the United States.

This video clip describes the activities of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, in the fight against the pollution caused by radioactive waste. The OSCE is carrying out public information and awareness campaigns regarding the health and safety risks and is trying to encourage governments to cooperate in the management of the ecological disaster.

This video clip presents the OSCE campaign for the return and reintegration of refugees and displaced persons in Croatia in cooperation with the Croatian Government and the country’s non-governmental organisations. It describes how the OSCE is helping in the localisation and housing of displaced Serbs in Croatia as part of a policy of long-term reconciliation and reconstruction.

On 1 and 2 December 1969, on the initiative of the French President, Georges Pompidou, the Heads of State or Government of the Six meet in The Hague in order to define the methods of reviving the European integration process.

This video clip outlines the origin of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) as an instrument for political and military détente in Europe during the Cold War and its development in post-Communist Europe as an international organisation active mainly in the fields of crisis prevention and management, renamed ‘Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe' (OSCE) in 1995.

On 24 June 1994, in Corfu, Franz Vranitzky, Federal Chancellor of Austria, and Alois Mock, Austrian Foreign Minister, sign Austria’s Treaty of Accession to the European Union. In his address, Thomas Klestil, President of the Republic of Austria, refers to the time-honoured role played by his country in European politics.