News and press releases

Ambassador Kathleen Kavalec, Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, made the following statement to mark World Press Freedom Day:

VIENNA, 28 April 2022 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro, expressed her concern today over the recent targeting of media workers in Serbia, urging the competent authorities to take effective measures to identify and prosecute all those responsible.

A four-day workshop with the Central Election Commission (CEC) on reviewing electoral rules concluded in Struga, North Macedonia, on April 21. The aim was to review and align these rules with the current Law on General Elections and other related laws in Kosovo, as recommended by international observer organizations and the OSCE Mission, based on lessons learnt from previous electoral processes. During the workshop the CEC, supported by the Mission’s Election Team, identified issues that require legal change and prepared a set of recommendations for future reference by the Assembly of Kosovo ad-hoc Committee on improving and strengthening the electoral process and its advisory group. The CEC looked into the most important rules related to the registration and operation of political parties, the certification of political entities and their code of conduct, the election observers, as well as the electoral rules relating to the voter list and out-of-Kosovo voting. They were also briefed on international standards and good practices on elections. “Clear electoral procedures help both the CEC in smooth delivery of elections but also the public in increasing their confidence in the overall election processes,” said Nathania Tabone, the Mission’s Senior Election Legal Adviser. The changes to the electoral rules agreed upon by the CEC during the workshop will be finalized by the CEC in the coming weeks. The final draft regulations should be subject to a public consultation with other key electoral stakeholders, such as specialized civil society organizations on elections and Elections Complaints and Appeals Panel. The Mission will continue to provide the CEC, the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel, and their Secretariats with technical advice and expertise in line with international standards and follow up on the implementation of recommendations made by international election observation missions.

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo concluded on 26 April 2022 a series of ten workshops on media and information literacy and digital media literacy for high school students. The workshops empowered students across Kosovo on how to use media literacy skills and critical thinking to identify fake news,

Uzbekistan presidential election 2021: ODIHR election observation Uzbekistan presidential election 2021: ODIHR election observation mission final report Uzbekistan’s 2021 presidential election has shown that the recent reforms, which have introduced welcome improvements, have yet to result in a

From 11 to 13 April 2022, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro conducted her first official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

Election experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented the  final report on Kazakhstan’s 2021 parliamentary elections during a visit to Nur-Sultan that took place from 10 to 14 April 2022. The experts discussed the report’s key findings and