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Human rights, resolving protracted conflicts high on agenda OSCE Chairperson tells US Helsinki Commission

WASHINGTON DC, 8 February 2012 – Protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as making progress on resolving protracted conflicts are priorities of the 2012 Irish OSCE Chairmanship, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Irish Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore told the US Helsinki Commission in Washington DC today...

OSCE Centre to continue promoting fundamental rights in Kazakhstan, says new Head of Centre

ASTANA, 7 February 2012 – A roundtable meeting held in Astana today reviewed the implementation of the parts of the country’s National Human Rights Action Plan for 2009-2012 devoted to improving the enforcement of the right to life and the rights of prisoners...

Tree planting campaign in landslide-prone areas in Guba district within Civic Action for Security and Environment programme, May 2011.

OSCE Office in Baku launches new call for proposals on environment and security projects

BAKU, 7 February 2012 – The OSCE Office in Baku today invited civil society organizations working on environment and security challenges to submit concept papers for the Civic Action for Security and Environment (CASE) small grants programme...

Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Vienna, June 2011.

OSCE Special Representative meets Russian journalists to discuss media role in combating human trafficking

MOSCOW, 6 February 2012 - The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Maria Grazia Giammarinaro met prominent Russian journalists in Moscow today to discuss the role of the media in the fight against human trafficking in the OSCE region. The meeting was organized by the Russian Union of Journalists in co-operation with the Office of the Special Representative...

(L-r) OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, Ambassador Eoin O'Leary, Chairperson of the OSCE Permanent Council, and Brian Hayes, Minister of State at the Department of Finance of Ireland, during the OSCE meeting on anti-money laundering and countering terrorism in Vienna, 6 February 2012.

OSCE meeting on anti-money laundering and countering terrorism in Vienna

VIENNA, 6 February 2012 – The OSCE’s practical contribution to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism, and defining a strategic way forward in this area are the focus of a meeting between representatives from 56 countries which started in Vienna today...

Ambassador Erwan Fouéré, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian settlement process, addresses the members of the OSCE Mission to Moldova in the end of his visit to the region, 3 February 2012.

OSCE Special Representative for Transdniestrian settlement process visits region ahead of official talks in Dublin

CHIŞINĂU, 3 February 2012 - Ambassador Erwan Fouéré, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian settlement process, concluded meetings with the political leadership in Chişinău and Tiraspol today...

Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, speaks to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, 2 February 2012.

Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner addresses OSCE, stresses need to co-operate to confront negative trends

VIENNA, 2 February 2012 – The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, in today’s address to the OSCE Permanent Council emphasized the need for the Council or Europe, the OSCE and other international actors to further co-operate to counter negative developments in relation to human rights issues...

Janez Lenarcic, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, at a media briefing during the OSCE Summit in Astana, December 2010.

OSCE rights chief welcomes decision to release Zhovtis, but expresses concern about clampdown on Kazakh opposition

WARSAW, 1 February 2012 – Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), today welcomed the decision by a court in Ust-Kamenogorsk to release prominent human rights defender Yevgeniy Zhovtis, but expressed concern about the continuing clampdown on opposition activities in Kazakhstan in the wake of December’s violence in Zhanaozen and parliamentary elections held earlier this month...

Head of the OSCE MIssion to Skopje Ralf Breth (l) and the Minsiter of Local Self-government Nevzat Bejta (r) present the Decentralization Assessment Report, Skopje, 1 February 2012.

OSCE Mission to Skopje decentralization assessment shows progress, highlights further challenges

SKOPJE, 1 February 2012 – Positive trends in decentralizing powers from central to local government have been observed over the past five years, but new challenges lie ahead, concludes an OSCE report on the decentralization process presented in Skopje today...

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Did you know?

Customs, border guard and drug control agency officials from the OSCE Border Management Staff College's inaugural Senior Staff Course on a field visit to an OSCE demining project on the Afghan-Tajik border, Nizhny Panj, 27 November 2010.

Did you know...?

...that the longest common terrestrial border in the world is between two OSCE participating States?
The Helsinki Final Act negotiators, the Foreign Ministers of the CSCE participating States, at the first Helsinki meeting in 1973.

Did you know...?

...that it took six years to negotiate and agree the Helsinki Final Act, 2,400 meetings took place and 4,660 proposals were drawn up?