The Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security, adopted in 1994, is a landmark in the evolution of the OSCE's comprehensive and co-operative security concept. The Code commits the participating States, inter alia, to maintain only such military capacities as are commensurate with legitimate individual or collective security needs, and stresses the right of each participating State to freely determine its security interests and to choose its own security arrangements - including treaties and alliances.
Furthermore, the Code obliges the participating States to provide for democratic control of armed and security forces and to ensure their compliance with international humanitarian law. Through the Code, the participating States have also agreed to prevent and combat terrorism. Each year the OSCE participating states exchange information about national implementation of the Code of Conduct.
For more information about the Code of Conduct, and to see the submissions of participating States, please visit the OSCE’s Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC) website: http://www.osce.org/fsc/44574
