News and press releases

WARSAW/VIENNA, 1 November 2022 – Today a new donor-funded Support Programme for Ukraine (SPU) was launched by contributing OSCE participating States. The Support Programme addresses some of the immediate challenges to civilians posed by the war waged against Ukraine and supports the long-term democratic and social resilience of Ukrainian institutions and civil society organizations.

WARSAW/VIENNA, 31 October 2022 – Following the lack of consensus by the OSCE Permanent Council to extend the mandates of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) and the Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, due to the position of the Russian Federation, the OSCE is closing these two field operations today.

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Kairat Abdrakhmanov visited Washington D.C. and New York from 17 to 21 October 2022. During the first part of the trip, the High Commissioner met with officials at the US State Department to discuss the most pressing challenges to security and

On October 20th 2022, the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA), in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducted a two-day expert roundtable to launch a new extra-budgetary project on fighting money laundering activities carried out via virtual assets and cryptocurrencies. The event is part of the extra-budgetary project on “innovative policy solutions to mitigate money laundering risks of virtual assets” funded by the United States and Germany.

OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid launched the first OSCE Women’s Peace Leadership Programme today. Participants from all over the OSCE region and beyond, including Ukraine and Afghanistan – high-level women mentors and women leaders selected as mentees – participated in the event.

On 5 and 6 October, women human rights activists from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine gathered to share successful practices of supporting survivors of sexual violence against women in conflict, setting up referral mechanisms, and holding perpetrators accountable amid war and post-conflict settings.

WARSAW/SKOPJE/STOCKHOLM/COPENHAGEN/VIENNA, 10 October 2022- OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, Foreign Minister of Sweden Ann Linde, and Foreign Minister of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani, representing the OSCE Troika, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Margareta Cederfelt (MP, Sweden), OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid, and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Secretary General Roberto Montella strenuously condemned Russia’s recent attacks against Ukraine’s population in the following statement: