News and press releases
News and press releases from the OSCE's global activities.
Further reforms needed in Kazakhstan to strengthen fair trial rights: ODIHR monitoring report
Publishing date: 6 May 2025
WARSAW, 6 May 2025 – In a report summarising its year-long monitoring of more than 400 court hearings related to the January 2022 protests in Kazakhstan, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) documented court practices that fall short of international fair trial
Strategic approaches to professional development on cybercrime and electronic evidence for law enforcement in Tajikistan discussed at OSCE workshop
Publishing date: 6 May 2025
The OSCE Transnational Threats Department held a workshop for 20 senior representatives of law enforcement agencies in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on 1 and 2 May. The workshop was aimed at strengthening national capacities to provide systematic and sustainable professional training and development on cybercrime and electronic evidence to law enforcement and criminal justice practitioners.
Ambassador Gerard McGurk assumes duties as new Head of OSCE Mission in Kosovo
Publishing date: 5 May 2025
PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 05 May 2025 – Ambassador Gerard McGurk, a career member of the British Diplomatic Service, has been appointed as the new Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and has officially assumed his duties today.
Statement by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Occasion of World Press Freedom Day
Publishing date: 3 May 2025
Sarajevo, 3 May 2025 – A free society depends on a free press. In recognition of World Press Freedom Day, the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mission) reaffirms its continued commitment to defending the fundamental right to free and independent journalism, as well as the corresponding
Building Climate Resilience: OSCE Chairpersonship Event in Vienna
Publishing date: 2 May 2025
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.
OSCE Chairperson and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media reaffirm necessity of media freedom to mark World Press Freedom Day
Publishing date: 2 May 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.
Kazakhstan, OSCE and UN host Cross-Regional Dialogue on the Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Returnees from Conflict Zones
Publishing date: 1 May 2025
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).