News and press releases

On 24 February 2022, Kathleen Kavalec, Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and the Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Sarajevo, Zinka Grebo signed a Memorandum of Understanding on mutual co-operation in promoting the freedom of expression and media in the country.

WARSAW/VIENNA, 24 February 2022 – The OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Foreign Minister of Poland, Zbigniew Rau and OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid condemned the launch by President Putin of a military operation in Ukraine and made the following statement:

An OSCE-supported series of seminars on the identification of victims of human trafficking and the investigation of criminal cases related to human trafficking was held in West Kazakhstan, Mangistau and Atyrau provinces from 15 to 22 February.

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz) held an online workshop in support of open data for anti-corruption on 22 February 2022. The event was jointly organized with the Anti-Corruption Agency of Uzbekistan (ACA) and the International Open Data Charter (ODC).

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro recognizes the essential work that the organizations ‘Women’s Safe House’ and ‘SOS Podgorica’ do in providing a safe refuge to women and their children from gender-based violence, complementary to social and judicial response. In support of the ongoing national efforts, the Mission donated around 300 books and arts and crafts sets for children and youth survivors of gender-based violence on 22 February 2022 in Podgorica.

On 21 February 2022, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro met with the Permanent Representative of Romania to the OSCE (International Organizations in Vienna), Ambassador Stelian Stoian.

VIENNA, 21 February 2022 — The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro, expressed her shock and outrage at the news of the killing of journalist Güngör Arslan, the owner and editor of the local news site Ses Kocaeli, in Turkey.