Further to my replies to two Parliamentary Questions on this matter last month, I can confirm that Ireland nominated observers for eight OSCE monitoring missions between 1 January 2013 and 28 February 2014. The missions were to Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. As set out in a previous reply, English is the primary language used on OSCE Missions, and knowledge of a second relevant language is usually indicated as desirable. For all eight missions since the start of 2013, the OSCE stated that ‘command of the English Language is essential and knowledge of local languages is desirable, but not essential’.
Ireland’s Election Observation Roster services both EU and OSCE-led election observation missions. Since the start of 2013, we have provided observers for eleven EU monitoring missions. For six of these, the observers were required to have fluency in a language other than English.
I regard it as important that language proficiency was one of the four criteria for the selection of roster members. All applicants for the new roster were required to set out their language proficiency in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Arabic. Applicants could also indicate their proficiency in other languages. Candidates were asked to indicate their levels of proficiency, what formal study had been undertaken, and their usage of the languages. Although language skills were not tested orally, it is important to note that the EU carries out spot checks on language proficiency among candidates nominated to take part in election observer missions.
