News and press releases

ASTANA, 27 February 2015 – An OSCE-supported roundtable discussion on developing national legislation on access to information, countering corruption and public oversight took place today in Astana. The event was initiated by the Legal Council of National Democratic Party Nur Otan and co-organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana and the Prosecutor General’s Office with the support of the Legal Policy Research Centre, Internews-Kazakhstan and Soros Foundation- Kazakhstan...

WASHINGTON D.C., 26 February 2015 – “Serbia’s OSCE Chairmanship coincides with the worst crisis of European security since the end of the Cold War,” OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Serbia’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić, told the U.S. Helsinki Commission at a hearing on 26 February in Washington, D.C...

COPENHAGEN, 26 February 2015 – The Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), today expressed deep concern about continuing threats to civil society and journalists in Azerbaijan and renewed her request to visit detained rights defenders...

The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the Implementation of the Minsk agreements”. The SMM, based on its monitoring – which was restricted by third parties and security considerations – noted fighting in some areas. The Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) continued to make plans for the withdrawal of heavy weapons. The SMM visited Debaltseve and saw destruction caused by recent fighting...

ASTANA, 26 February 2015- The issues of harmonising some legislative acts with provisions of the new Criminal Executive Code of Kazakhstan were among the topics addressed at an OSCE-supported expert meeting held today in Astana. The event was co-organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana in co-operation with the Legislative and Judicial Reform Committee of the Mazhilis (lower chamber of the Parliament) with support from the Penal Reform International Office in Central Asia...

A two-day training seminar on conflict resolution and basic trial techniques for some 30 middle-level staff of Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office began on 26 February 2015 in Astana...

The Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings today, on 26 February 2015, issued an official country visit report on the Republic of Uzbekistan, following an official country visit carried out by her Office...