The General Assembly,
 
      Recalling its resolution 48/5 of 13 October 1993 on observer status for
the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the framework for
cooperation and coordination between the United Nations and the Conference on
Security and Cooperation in Europe signed on 26 May 1993, as well as its
resolution 50/87 of 18 December 1995 on cooperation between the two
organizations,
 
      Recalling also the declaration at the 1992 Helsinki Summit by the heads
of State or Government of the participating States of the Conference on
Security and Cooperation in Europe of their understanding that the Conference
is a regional arrangement in the sense of Chapter VIII of the Charter of the
United Nations and as such provides an important link between European and
global security,
 
      Acknowledging the increasing contribution of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe to the establishment and maintenance of
international peace and security in its region through activities in early
warning and preventive diplomacy, including through the activities of the High
Commissioner for National Minorities, crisis management, arms control and
disarmament, post-crisis stabilization and rehabilitation measures, and its
efforts in supporting the economic dimension, as well as its crucial role in
the human dimension,
 
      Welcoming the meeting held on 15 and 16 February 1996 on the invitation
of the Secretary-General between the United Nations and the regional and other
organizations, and noting the importance of continuing and further developing
the practice of convening such meetings,
 
      Recalling the special ties between the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe and the Mediterranean Partners for Cooperation,
 
      Underlining the continued importance of enhanced coordination and
cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe,
 
      1.    Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General;
 
      2.    Also welcomes the progress in common work in the field between the
United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe;
 
      3.    Further welcomes the Summit Declaration and the decisions adopted
by the heads of State or Government of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe on 3 December 1996 at Lisbon, in particular the Lisbon
Declaration on a Common and Comprehensive Security Model for Europe for the
Twenty-first Century, which, as such, complements the mutually reinforcing
efforts of other European and transatlantic institutions and organizations in
this field;
 
      4.    Commends the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
for the fulfilment, in cooperation with the United Nations, of the role
assigned to it by the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and the annexes thereto (collectively the Peace Agreement), in
particular for:
 
      (a)   The successful supervision of the preparation and the conduct of
the elections held on 14 September 1996;
 
      (b)   The monitoring, together with other international organizations,
of the development of human rights standards;
 
      (c)   The support offered to the Human Rights Commission of Bosnia and
Herzegovina;
 
      (d)   The agreements concluded under its auspices on confidence- and
security-building measures, as well as on subregional arms control;
 
      5.    Welcomes the decision of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe to continue its engagement in Bosnia and Herzegovina and
to contribute to the building of democratic structures and to the fostering of
civil society, including the promotion of human rights standards, and welcomes
in this context further cooperation between the United Nations and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe;
 
      6.    Underlines the responsibility of the parties to organize free and
fair municipal elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina and, in this regard,
welcomes the confirmation that the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe will supervise the preparation and conduct of those elections;
 
      7.    Welcomes the readiness of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe to continue to contribute in and around Bosnia and
Herzegovina to regional stabilization and, also in accordance with the Peace
Agreement, to assist the implementation of the agreements on confidence- and
security-building measures, on subregional arms control, as well as to promote
negotiations on regional arms control;
 
      8.    Also welcomes the readiness of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe to support the Human Rights Office in Sukhumi, Georgia,
which forms part of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia;
 
      9.    Fully supports the activities of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict in and
around the Nagorny Karabakh region of the Azerbaijan Republic, and welcomes
cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe in this regard;
 
      10.   Welcomes the intensified cooperation and coordination between the
United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
over the past year, for example in Tajikistan, Croatia and the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, in the provision of human rights training courses in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in collaboration on the subject of the return and
reintegration of refugees and other involuntarily displaced persons in
countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States;
 
      11.   Supports the activities of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe aimed at contributing to stability and the maintenance
of peace and security within its region, and stresses the importance of the
work done by its field missions;
 
      12.   Requests the Secretary-General to continue exploring with the
Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
possibilities for further enhancement of cooperation, information exchange and
coordination between the United Nations and the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, in accordance with Chapter VIII of the Charter of the
United Nations and on the basis of the framework for cooperation and
coordination between the United Nations and the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, avoiding as much as possible duplication and
overlapping in those areas where both organizations have their own respective
roles to play;
 
      13.   Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-second
session the item entitled "Cooperation between the United Nations and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe", and requests the
Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its fifty-second
session a report on cooperation between the United Nations and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in implementation of the
present resolution.