News and press releases

ASTANA, 25 June 2024 — Today, OSCE Chair-in-Office, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of Malta Ian Borg, concluded his visit to Kazakhstan. The visit focused on strengthening regional co-operation and the OSCE’s engagement in addressing the broad range of security challenges the region is facing.

VIENNA, 24 June 2024 – Despite progress made in some areas, levels of intolerance and discrimination remain high and pervasive in many parts of the OSCE region with a particularly negative impact on women and girls, corroding democracy and jeopardising our common security, and undermining gender equality, OSCE leaders said as a two-day meetingon tolerance and non-discrimination and gender equality started today.

WARSAW, 20 June 2024 – As the number of forcibly displaced people in the OSCE area reaches a record high, the proliferation of new border technologies is likely to have a profound impact on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of refugees across the region, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said on the occasion of World Refugee Day.

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mission) welcomes the adoption of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Strategy for the Fight against Corruption 2024-2028 and the accompanying Action Plan for Implementation by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

VIENNA, 13 June 2024 – “The failure to guarantee media freedom and healthy information spaces is increasingly disillusioning and disenfranchising people throughout the OSCE region,” stated OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM) Teresa Ribeiro in her address to OSCE participating States. Presenting her seventh and final bi-annual report to the Permanent Council, she highlighted escalating repression against the media and its detrimental impact on democratic principles and security across the OSCE region and urged States to bolster efforts to safeguard media freedom for the benefit of peace and security.

BRUSSELS, 10 June 2024 – The European parliamentary elections were competitive and offered voters a wide choice of genuine political alternatives, but differing practices for voter and candidate registration created unequal conditions and there were concerns about growing political polarization and disinformation, international observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said in a statement today.

The need for more gender-balanced political representation and the urgent need to end violence against women were key topics at the two-day regional expert conference titled Transforming Politics: Male Politicians as Critical Actors for Gender Equality and Eliminating Violence against Women. The conference, held on 5-6 June in Sarajevo, brought together over 70 participants, including parliament members, party leaders, government agency representatives, and civil society members from South-East Europe. It was jointly organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.