OSCE Calls Artificial Intelligence Security Risk and Condemns ‘Russian Aggression’ (Worthy News In-depth)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BUCHAREST/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Legislators of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) expressed concern Wednesday that artificial intelligence (AI) will soon be used by terrorist groups and condemned “Russian aggression” in Ukraine.
They raised these concerns in the Bucharest Declaration, which the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted after talks in the Romanian capital.
The Declaration obtained by Worthy News “expresses deep concern about the potential misuse of this [AI] technology by terrorist organizations and urges OSCE participating States to enhance their national legal frameworks to regulate the development and use of AI in line with international standards.”
It came after Pope Francis recently expressed his concern about AI technology. “Are we sure we want to continue to call ‘intelligence’ what intelligence is not?” he said in remarks monitored by Worthy News.
He urged his listeners to ask themselves “whether the misuse of this word, that is so important and so human, is not already a surrender to technocratic power.”
Francis wondered: “Does it serve to satisfy the needs of humanity, to improve the well-being and integral development of people? Or does it, rather, “serve to enrich and increase the already high power of the few technological giants despite the dangers to humanity?”
It was not clear what role AI plays currently in what the OSCE legislators called “the Russian war of aggression” against Ukraine. Their Bucharest Declaration called Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, underway since February 2022, “a gross and unprovoked violation of our international rules-based order.”
‘INTERNATIONAL LAW’
The invasion violated “all basic principles of international law and international commitments under the Charter of the United Nations and the Helsinki Final Act,” the Bucharest Declaration said. It demanded that Russian forces “completely withdraw from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders of 1991.”
Other key recommendations included calls “for full compliance with international law to ensure the protection of the civilian population” and “for OSCE participating States hosting Ukrainian refugees to maintain a flexible approach to short-term returns to Ukraine.”
In addition to the war in Ukraine, the Parliamentary Assembly addressed the situation in the Middle East, condemning in the strongest terms “the horrific terrorist acts perpetrated by Hamas and other militant groups on civilians in Israel on 7 October 2023.”
It was a reference to the estimated 1,200 people killed by Hamas that day, as well as the roughly 250 persons who were kidnapped by the group, seen as a terrorist organization by many OSCE member states.
The Bucharest Declaration said the Hamas-Israel war sparked by the Hamas massacre could have “global implications,” including possible escalation, terrorism, irregular migration, radicalization, as well as “hate speech, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.”
It also called for “constructive dialogue aimed at resolving the conflict and releasing Israeli hostages through an immediate ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
Regarding the South Caucasus, the Declaration expressed concern over “the ongoing Russian occupation of [parts of] Georgia.” It also urged “a full and robust election observation mission” to this autumn’s parliamentary elections in Georgia.
‘DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS’
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Bucharest Declaration also reiterated support for “diplomatic efforts in facilitating dialogue and building confidence between Armenia and Azerbaijan after a devastating war.
“Armenia is having problems integrating over 100,000 refugees who fled Nagorno-Karabakh when Azerbaijan took control of the enclave in September 2023,” said the International Crisis Group (ICG) in a recent assessment seen by Worthy News.
“Yerevan has tried to be generous, but it lacks funds and a long-term plan, leaving the displaced people exposed and facing an uncertain future,” added the ICG. The refugees, who are mainly Christians, represented about 99 percent of the remaining population of Nagorno-Karabakh, according to several estimates.
The six-day parliamentary meeting, which ended Wednesday, re-elected OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Pia Kauma from Finland to a second one-year term. U.S. Congressman Legislators Richard Hudson and fellow legislators Gudrun Kugler from Austria and Luis Graca from Portugal “were elected as new Vice-Presidents of the Assembly,” the OSCE told the Worthy News Europe Bureau in Budapest.
The OSCE originated in 1975 during the Cold War era when its predecessors created a forum for discussion between the West and Soviet satellite states.
While most of the OSCE’s 57 member states are European nations, some are in Asia and North America.
The OSCE is Europe’s leading security organization dealing with “early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management, and post-conflict rehabilitation.” It also has observer missions during elections in several countries.
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