What we do

Activities

Conflict prevention and resolution

The OSCE works to prevent conflicts from arising and to facilitate lasting comprehensive political settlements for existing conflicts. It also helps with the process of rehabilitation in post-conflict areas. It co-operates with representatives of the United Nations and other international organizations operating in areas of conflict.

Following the April 2010 crisis and subsequent violence in June 2010 in Kyrgyzstan, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office sent his Special Envoy, Zhanybek Karibzhanov, to facilitate dialogue and co-ordinate efforts with other international organizations.

The OSCE is involved in mediation efforts in several unresolved conflicts:

The conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh  - through the Minsk Group (co-chaired by France, the Russian Federation and the United States) and the Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office on the Conflict Dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.

Transdniestria - through the "5+2" talks, which includes the sides, the Republic of Moldova and Transdniestria, the mediators - the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the OSCE - and the United States and the European Union as observers.

Post-2008 conflict in Georgia - the OSCE, together with the UN and EU, co-chairs the international Geneva Discussions in the wake of the conflict in Georgia. It also, with EUMM, co-facilitates the meetings of the Dvani/Ergneti Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) dealing with matters that affect the daily life of populations on the ground.

Latest stories

Joint statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, by the Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries

ENNISKILLEN, United Kingdom, 18 June 2013 - Joint Statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict by Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Franсois Hollande, President of the French Republic...

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, on his visit to Georgia, expresses concern over obstacles to freedom of movement along Administrative Boundary Line with South Ossetia

TBILISI, 18 June 2013 - OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, on a two-day visit to Georgia, today discussed with President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili and Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze a number of issues, focusing on the OSCE agenda...

Transnational threats, conflicts, arms control, Afghanistan to be discussed at OSCE annual conference in Vienna on Wednesday

VIENNA, 18 June 2013 –, The role of politico-military aspects in advancing work towards a Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community will be an overarching topic of the OSCE Annual Security Review Conference to take place in Vienna tomorrow...

OSCE Chair calls on the parties of the Transdniestrian settlement to refrain from unilateral actions impeding the negotiation process

KYIV, 17 June 2013 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara expressed his concern over the negative implications for the Transdniestrian settlement process caused by the recent adoption by the Transdniestrian side of the so-called legal act on the border. ()

OSCE Chairperson meets with OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs

KYIV, 14 June 2013 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara received today the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Jacques Faure of France, and Ian Kelly of the United States as well as the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office on the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk... ()

The 34th IPRM takes place in Ergneti

On 31 May the 34th meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) took place in Ergneti, co-facilitated by Ambassador Andrzej Tyszkiewicz (EUMM) and Ambassador Andrii Deshchytsia (OSCE). Participants expressed concern about increasing fencing activities and the high number of detentions in areas adjacent to South Ossetia...

OSCE welcomes meeting of chief negotiators in Transdniestrian settlement process

CHISINAU, 28 May 2013 – The Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Ambassador Jennifer Brush, welcomed today’s meeting in Chisinau of the chief negotiations in the Transdniestrian settlement process, where they discussed, among other topics, law enforcement co-operation... ()

Latest round of talks in Transdniestrian settlement process concluded in Odesa with agreement on confidence-building measure

ODESA, Ukraine, 24 May 2013 - The latest round of negotiations in the Transdniestrian settlement process concluded today in the Ukrainian city of Odesa with an agreement on a further confidence-building measure... ()