Multilateral cooperation 46 | OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is headquartered in Vienna and was founded in 1975 as the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), of which Liechtenstein was a cofounder. The OSCE meanwhile is composed of 56 participating states in the Northern Hemisphere «from Vancouver to Vladivostok» and is thus the only security-policy organisation in which all European countries, the United States, Canada and the successor states of the Soviet Union are represented. The OSCE uses a comprehensive definition of security encompassing all aspects of military security, the economy, and human rights and the rule of law. The priorities of the OSCE’s activity lie in preventive diplomacy, conflict prevention and crisis management as well as post-conflict rehabilitation and stabilisation of democratic structures. In this way, the OSCE contributes to the promotion of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe and thus also to the foreign policy goals of Liechtenstein. Decision-making and the assumption of commitments in the OSCE are governed by the consensus principle and are politically binding. Four independent OSCE institutions – the High Commissioner on National Minorities, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR), and the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE – as well as the OSCE field operations in South-Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, established in the 1990s after the fall of the Iron Curtain, strengthen and promote the implementation of OSCE commitments assumed, especially in the field of human rights and the rule of law, but also in the economic and military dimensions of the OSCE. The focus of Liechtenstein’s work in the OSCE is on cooperation with like-minded states, especially in the fields of human rights and the rule of law, the smooth functioning of the OSCE, and honouring of the commitments assumed by all member states. Apart from this, Liechtenstein supports the OSCE with experts and voluntary contributions to project work. An important instrument of the OSCE for the promotion of democracy consists in the election observation missions conducted by ODIHR. Over the years, the OSCE has built up a leading role in election observations and a unique expertise among international organisations. Prior to the elections to the Liechtenstein Parliament in 2009, Liechtenstein invited an ODIHR mission to Liechtenstein in accordance with its OSCE commitments. The mission provided some recommendations on how to improve the way elections are held in Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein has also invited ODHIR to observe the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2013. With the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001 and the new threats to the security of states and populations in the 21st century arising from terrorism, trafficking in humans and drugs, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the OSCE has in­ creasingly focused its work also on combating transnational crime and has built up capacities in the OSCE Secretariat accordingly over the years. The OSCE moreover has increased cooperation with the OSCE partner state of Afghanistan through several projects. Also in these activity areas of the OSCE, Liechtenstein has been able to make a contribution through its expertise and financial support.