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High Commissioner on National Minorities

About

The post of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities was established in 1992 to identify and seek early resolution of ethnic tensions that might endanger peace, stability or friendly relations between OSCE participating States.

Press releases

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities urges OSCE States to assist Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, calls for independent commission to investigate

High Commissioner Knut Vollebaek during a visit to Kyrgyzstan on 27 April 2010. (OSCE/Dmitri Alechkevitch)

VIENNA, 17 June 2010 - Urgent support is needed to help stabilize the situation in Kyrgyzstan and assist neighbouring Uzbekistan to take care of tens of thousands of refugees, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek said today...

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Features

OSCE works with authorities in Skopje to reverse segregation in education

Students Shqiponja Kasa (r), ethnic Albanian, and Rebeka Lazeska, ethnic Macedonian, perform in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" in an OSCE project to promote inter-ethnic communication in Kicevo, 28 February 2009. (OSCE)

Activities in schools by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje are helping to fight segregation and improve inter-ethnic communication.

OSCE High Commissioner brings police and minorities together in Crimea

The old quarter of Simferopil, near the Kebir-Jami mosque, Crimea, Ukraine, 7 November 2008. (OSCE/Dmitri Alechkevitch)

Defusing tensions between the Crimean Tatars, who have recently returned to their homeland in Ukraine after decades in exile, and the police, is the goal of efforts by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities.

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High Commissioner Vollebaek in the village of Maevka, northern Kyrgyzstan. During his visits to Kyrgyzstan in April and June 2010, the High Commissioner recorded serious deterioration of inter-ethnic relations. (OSCE/Dmitri Alechkevitch)

High Commissioner Vollebaek in the village of Maevka, northern Kyrgyzstan. During his visits to Kyrgyzstan in April and June 2010, the High Commissioner recorded serious deterioration of inter-ethnic relations. (OSCE/Dmitri Alechkevitch)

DOCUMENT: Statement on the situation in Kyrgyzstan by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities to the (special) Permanent Council, Vienna, 14 June 2010

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Documents

Statement by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities to the Permanent Council

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Statement by Knut Vollebaek, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, to the 813th Plenary Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, 17 June 2010.

Statement by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities to the Permanent Council

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Statement on Kyrgyzstan by Knut Vollebaek, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, to the 808th Plenary Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, 6 May 2010