The Directorate for Multilateral Political Cooperation and Human Rights

The Directorate for Multilateral Political Cooperation and Human Rights handles the following:

1. policy questions falling within the competency of international agencies, bodies and organisations of the United Nations system;
2. questions concerning international security, disarmament and weapons control and non-proliferation issues;
3. questions regarding human rights in multilateral forums and in relations with the bodies of the European Convention on Human Rights;
4. negotiations on multilateral agreements with agencies, bodies and organisations as mentioned above, and negotiations of a global nature regarding the above issues, without obstructing to the specific authority of other government departments as envisaged by law;
5. international cooperation against global challenges and, in particular, against terrorism, trans-national organised crime and drug trafficking;
6. policy issues pertinent to the G8 process.

The Directorate for Multilateral Political Cooperation and Human Rights is divided into seven Offices:

• Office I (United Nations (UN) System): General Assembly, Security Council and relations with the Secretariat; CFSP working groups on the UN; International Court of Justice and other international judicial bodies; specialised agencies; peacekeeping operations, preventive diplomacy and peace-building within the UN framework;
• Office II (Human Rights):Relations with international agencies, bodies and organisations dealing with the various aspects of human rights (Council of Europe); support for the National Committee for Human Rights; in-house coordination on human rights issues; relations with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in the human rights field; CFSP working groups on human rights;
• Office III (G8 Process and international organisations. Global challenges): Political issues pertaining to the G8 process; the fight against trans-national crime, with particular regard to terrorism, organised crime and drug trafficking; CFSP working groups on global challenges; UN activities on global challenges;
• Office IV (Political-military security): Atlantic Alliance: Atlantic Council, Military Committee, Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council, NATO-Ukraine Commission; operational aspects of the European security and defence dimension; WEU;
• Office V (Disarmament and arms control. Non-proliferation): Nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons and conventional weapons: policies regarding disarmament, arms control, non-proliferation and Confidence and Security Building Measures (CSBM), mainly within the framework of the UN, the Disarmament Conference, the EU and the Regional Organisations; coordination of initiatives regarding the fund for humanitarian mine-clearing operations; liaison with Office VII for NBC disarmament activities entrusted by law to the national authorities; liaison with the Directorate General for Multilateral Economic and Financial Cooperation on the political implications of its activities of international consensus-building and the application of EU and national legislation on movements of arms and sensitive dual-use materials; liaison with the Directorate General for Multilateral Economic and Financial Cooperation and with the Directorate General for European Integration on European policy in the arms field (COARM and POLARM);
• Office VI (OSCE): Presidency and Secretariat; Standing Council; ODIHR - human dimension - election monitoring; High Commissioner for National Minorities; Forum for Security Cooperation; CSBM - Vienna document; preventive diplomacy and crisis management; Court of Conciliation and Arbitration; OSCE Parliamentary Assembly; CFSP working groups on OSCE;
• Office VII (Office of the National Authority for the implementation of the Conventions on Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Disarmament): Relations with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and tasks pursuant to Laws 496/1995 and 93/1997, with particular reference to international inspections; relations with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Organisation, management of the National Data Centre and tasks pursuant to Law 484/1998; guidance and coordination of the activities of other Government Departments and national bodies and agencies in matters governed by the Convention for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the Nuclear Test Ban; implementation of the Convention for the Prohibition of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons.