News and press releases
News and press releases from the OSCE's global activities.
Switzerland to harness OSCE strengths as wide-ranging chairmanship programme revealed
Publishing date: 16 January 2014
VIENNA, 16 January 2014 – Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter today pledged to seize the opportunities offered by the OSCE as he outlined priorities for the Swiss Chairmanship of the Organization at the first Permanent Council in Vienna...
OSCE is best safeguard against new divisions between East and West, says new Swiss OSCE Chair
Publishing date: 31 December 2013
BERN, 1 January 2014- Switzerland wants to make a tangible contribution to fostering security and stability, improving people’s lives and strengthening the OSCE’s capacity to act, new OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Switzerland’s Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, said today, as Switzerland assumed the rotating Chairmanship of the Organization for 2014...
OSCE holds training courses for Kyrgyz customs officers
Publishing date: 24 December 2013
An OSCE-supported basic training course for 30 newly recruited Kyrgyz customs offices concluded on 27 December 2013 in Leninskoe village near Bishkek...
Austria’s legal framework provides sound basis for democratic elections, says OSCE/ODIHR report, more transparency needed
Publishing date: 23 December 2013
Austria’s legal framework provides a sound basis for the conduct of democratic elections, concludes the final report of the OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights on the country’s 29 September 2013 parliamentary elections. Authorities can take further measures to enhance the transparency of the electoral process, though...
OSCE PA Special Representative on Border Co-operation meets Georgian Foreign Minister
Publishing date: 19 December 2013
COPENHAGEN, 19 December 2013 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Special Representative on Border Co-operation, Ignacio Sanchez Amor (Spain), met Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze on 18 December in Madrid for discussions that focused on the situation along the administrative boundary lines between Georgian-controlled territory and Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Need to confiscate proceeds of trafficking crimes, unconditional assistance to victims, parts of forward-looking update to Action Plan to combat human trafficking
Publishing date: 19 December 2013
VIENNA, 19 December 2013 – OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, highlighted key aspects of the Addendum to the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings in her address today to the Permanent Council.
OSCE boosts travel document security in Kyrgyzstan
Publishing date: 19 December 2013
BISHKEK, 19 December 2013 – A renovated training room, computer equipment and study materials to be used in delivering courses on identifying forged travel documents were presented by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek to the State Border Service of Kyrgyzstan today. The ceremony marked the completion of a capacity-building course on travel document security.