News and press releases

VIENNA, 2 May 2025 – Over 140 participants from OSCE Participating States, Partners for Co-operation, OSCE Institutions, civil society, and international organizations gathered in Vienna for the "Resilient Together in a Changing Climate" Chairpersonship Event, organized under Finland’s 2025 OSCE Chairpersonship on 28 to 29 April 2025.

VIENNA/HELSINKI, 2 May 2025 — On World Press Freedom Day, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM) Jan Braathu reaffirm the necessity of upholding media freedom in an environment marked by rapid technological developments.

On 30 April, over 50 representatives from Central Asia, South-East Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa gathered in Astana to share good practices and exchange experience related to prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration (PRR) of returnees from conflict zones. The meeting was co-organized by the Ministry of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Programme Office in Astana, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), and the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA).

The OSCE, in partnership with Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior, convened an expert roundtable to discuss various aspects of preventing and combating illicit trafficking of weapons, ammunition and explosives (WAE) in Ukraine on 25 April.

Today Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing the most serious constitutional crisis since the end of the war nearly thirty years ago. The Dayton Peace Agreement that ended that devastating war entrusted the OSCE with a vital role: to help secure lasting peace, protect human rights, and support building a stable, democratic state.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and the International Year of Peace and Trust designated by the UN General Assembly's Resolution at the initiative of Turkmenistan, the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat together with the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan organized a high-level forum in Ashgabat on 22 April.

On 17 April, the State Election Commission of Montenegro (SEC) held its first livestreamed session using video equipment provided by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro.