News and press releases

The role played by law-enforcement agencies in protecting freedom of religion or belief was the focus of a seminar organized by ODIHR, the OSCE Centre in Bishkek and partners in Kyrgyzstan’s capital on 4 and 5 June 2012...

DUBLIN, 6 JUNE 2012 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore, will travel to Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan next week to meet government leaders, representatives of political parties for discussions of the OSCE’s work in the region...

Member of the German Bundestag Defence Committee Ernst-Reinhard Beck addressed the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) on 6 June 2012 in Vienna on democratic control over armed forces...

On the occasion of the 2012 World Environment Day on 5 June, staff of the OSCE Centre in Astana planted shrubs in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The theme of the 2012 World Environmental Day is “Green economy: does it include you?” The event was organized by the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia to raise awareness of environmental risks and ecological scarcities...

YEREVAN, 4 June 2012 – Individuals working to promote human rights, accountable governance and free speech in Armenia were acknowledged today at a ceremony hosted by the US Embassy and co-organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan, the EU Delegation to Armenia, the British Embassy in Armenia and Counterpart International...

VIENNA, 4 June 2012 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, welcomed today the early release from prison of social media activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, adding that she hoped all imprisoned journalists would also be set free soon.

Promoting women’s political participation in Ukraine ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for later this year was the focus of a roundtable discussion organized in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, on 31 May 2012, by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and partners...