General Committee on Political Affairs and Security

(1st Committee)

The First General Committee focuses on the politico-military aspects of security, principles guiding relations among participating States, as well as military confidence-building measures.

• Karl-Georg Wellmann (Germany)
  Chair
• Canan Kalsin (Turkey)
  Vice-Chair
• Tonino Picula (Croatia)
  Rapporteur

Karl-Georg Wellmann (Germany)

was elected Chair of the First Committee at the 2010 Annual Session in Oslo. A Member of the German Bundestag since 2005, he has served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, specifically focusing on Poland, Central Asia, the Baltic States, Ukraine and Russia. He is a substitute member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and since 2005 has been a Member of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. In addition to serving on the Assembly's First Committee, he also serves as Deputy Head of the German Delegation.

Canan Kalsin (Turkey)

was re-elected Vice-Chair of the First General Committee at the 2010 Annual Session in Oslo. She has served as a member of the Turkish delegation to the OSCE PA since 2007.

In the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, she serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and is also the founding president of the Woman Branch of the Justice and Development Party. Ms. Kalsin holds an M.A. in Business Administration and a Ph.D. in Global Politics and International Relations.

Tonino Picula (Croatia)

was elected Rapporteur of the First General Committee at the 2010 Annual Session in Oslo. A Member of the Croatian Parliament since 2003, he has served as Head of Delegation of Croatia since 2004. From 2000-2003, he served as Croatia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, and from 2004-2008 he was Chairperson of the Social-Democratic Party Croatia Governing Board. He also serves on the Foreign Policy Committee of the Croatian Parliament.

General Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment

(2nd committee)

Roland Blum (France)

was re-elected Chair of the Second General Committee at the Annual Session in Oslo, after having previously served one term as Vice-Chair and several terms as Rapporteur of the Committee.

He is Vice-President of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the French National Assembly, where he has served since 1986. From 1984 to 1988 Mr. Blum was a Member of the European Parliament. As a member of the Foreign Affairs committee, he has been Rapporteur of several missions, including on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Non-Governmental Organizations and the World Trade Organization. He has been President of the mission on the future of the Euromed.

Ivor Callely (Ireland)

was re-elected Vice-Chair of the Second General Committee in July 2010 in Oslo, after having served one term as Rapporteur of the Committee. Senator Callely is a member of the 23rd Seanad of Ireland and is a nominee of An Taoiseach, Prime Minister of Ireland. He has Ministerial portfolios in the Department of Health and Children and Minister of State at the Department of Transportation.

Mr. Callely currently serves as Chairman of the All Party Oireachtas Human Rights Committee and as Head of the Irish Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. He is also Government Spokesman on Enterprise, Trade and Employment as well as a member of the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business and the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Serhiy Shevchuk (Ukraine)

was re-elected Rapporteur of the Second Committee at the 2010 Annual Session in Oslo. A member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Mr. Shevchuk has served as a delegate to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly since 1998. Since 2006, he has served as Deputy Chairman of the Committee on European Integration of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

In 2008, he was elected Chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs, Science and Environment of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and Senate of the Republic of Poland. He also serves as State Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health and as Chairman of the Ukrainian charity organization for the protection of maternity and childhood.

General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions

Walburga Habsburg Douglas (Sweden)

was re-elected Chair of the Third General Committee during the 2010 Annual Session in Oslo, having previously served as Committee Vice-Chair, and before that, as Rapporteur.

Ms. Habsburg Douglas is also the Head of the Swedish Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. With a background in law and journalism, Ms. Habsburg Douglas served as Secretary General of the International Pan-European movement prior to being elected to parliament in 2006.

Robert Aderholt (United States)

was re-elected Vice-Chair of the Third Committee at the 2010 Annual Session in Oslo. He has served seven terms in the United States House of Representatives, where he is active on the House Appropriations Committee, the House Budget Committee, the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch, and the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee. Since 2001, Mr. Aderholt has also served on the Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe.

A former Municipal Judge, Mr. Aderholt has a particular interest in issues relating to the rule of law as applied at the local level and issues relating to religious freedom and community dialogue.

Matteo Mecacci (Italy)

was re-elected Rapporteur of the Third Committee at the Annual Session in Oslo. Mr. Mecacci has been member of the Italian Parliament since 2008, where he serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies. From 2001 to 2008 he was based in New York where he co-ordinated various campaigns related to the promotion of democracy, particularly in regards to the International Criminal Court and the UN Commission on Human Rights.

He is currently the President of the Italian Parliamentary Intergroup for Tibet and Vice-President of the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty, an NGO with Ecosoc Consultative status with the UN.