News and press releases

The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe (POiD) will pursue its activities in 2021 in Tajikistan, in line with its existing mandate and relevant priorities of the host country, within all three dimensions of the OSCE’s comprehensive and co-operative approach to security. The joint agreement between the OSCE and the Government of Tajikistan was declared at the annual OSCE Partnership Platform meeting in Dushanbe on 15 October 2020. The meeting brought together high-ranking officials from Tajikistan’s government agencies and representatives of the OSCE.

A two-day series of online events on the nature, status and scope of the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief for all (FoRB) as enshrined in international standards and the OSCE human dimension commitments concluded on 14 October 2020. The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan organized the events targeted for Uzbekistan state officials. The series also included a briefing on the OSCE/ODIHR Freedom of Religion or Belief and on Security Policy Guidance...

The first in a series of three OSCE-supported regional roundtable discussions on the country’s environmental challenges concluded on 15 October 2020 in Kostanay, Kazakhstan. The two-day event brought together some 25 representatives from the local authorities, the business community and environmental NGOs. The OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan, in partnership with the Association of Environmental Organizations, organized the event...

Efforts by OSCE participating States to address the risks posed by small arms and light weapons (SALW) and stockpiles of conventional ammunition (SCA), particularly in preventing and combating the illicit trade in SALW, were the focus of a meeting organized by the German Chair of the Forum for Security Co-operation on 13 and 14 October 2020...

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), the OSCE and UN Women joined forces to host an online event on 12 October 2020. Experts reviewed commitments and charted the way forward on this landmark resolution, the first international agreement recognizing that conflict affects women differently than men and calling for the meaningful participation of women in peace processes. A wide range of WPS practitioners from civil society and women’s organizations, government officials and representatives of international organizations participated in the event.

An OSCE-supported seminar on the protection of freedom of expression and the judicial regulation of defamation took place on 10 October 2020 in Nur-Sultan. The OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan co-organized the event with the Academy of Justice under the Supreme Court (Academy), NGO Legal Media Centre, Internews Kazakhstan and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Some 55 Master students of the Academy attended the seminar...

The role of open data and digital tools in enhancing good governance and anti-corruption mechanisms in the context of current economic challenges was the focus of a virtual webinar organized by the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) on 9 October 2020...