FINLAND

FINLAND / SUOMI.

Conference of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Simplified map of Europe.
Stamp issued on 20.03.1992.
Face value: 16 Finnish markka.
Design: Osmo Omenamäki (b. Helsinki, 1940).
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 3,000,000 copies.
Size: 34 x 24 mm.

Catalogues
- AFA No. 1154.
- Michel No. 1166.
- Scott No. 881.
- StampWorld No. 1179.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1276.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1132.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, promotion of human rights, freedom of the press, and fair elections. It has its origins in the 1975 Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland. The fall of the Soviet Union required a change of role for the CSCE. The Charter of Paris for a New Europe, signed on 21 November 1990, marked the beginning of this change. The six official languages of the OSCE are English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian. The decisions taken at the Helsinki meeting of July 9 and 10, 1992 were the following: Creation of the High Commissioner on National Minorities, the Forum for Security Co-operation and the Economic Forum. Suspension of FR Yugoslavia from membership.