The Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine: a useful but flawed OSCE tool

Abstract
The OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine functions as the eyes and ears of the international community in Eastern Ukraine; it monitors, impartially, the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia and observes whether or not both parties comply with the Minsk II Agreement. The success, or failure, of this Mission will not only be of crucial importance for the situation in Eastern Ukraine, but will also determine the OSCE’s entire future and ability to operate in conflict regions. Although the SMM is a flawed tool, Dennis Sammut and Joseph D’Urso argue that its deployment and the subsequent reinvigoration of OSCE is the perfect opportunity for the EU to rethink its relation to and position in the organisation, and to assume a bigger and more decisive role.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine: lessons from the first year and opportunities for the future http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-osce-special-monitoring-mission-to-ukraine-lessons-from-the-first-year-and-opportunities-for-the-future/

OSCE: Where we are: OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm

Blog: Judy Dempsey's Strategic Europe, 30.04.15: How Not to Monitor Russia’s Border With Ukraine http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=59942

ELN: The OSCE in Ukraine: 'First Responder' or Last Resort?, April 2015 http://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/the-osce-in-ukraine-first-responder-or-last-resort_2660.html

http://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/the-osce-special-monitoring-mission-to-ukraine-lessons-from-the-first-year-and-opportunities-for-the-future_2634.html http://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/the-osce-special-monitoring-mission-to-ukraine-lessons-from-the-first-year-and-opportunities-for-the-future_2634.html

---