News and press releases

On 28 December 2021, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz) co-hosted an award ceremony recognizing the winners of the Open Data Challenge 2021 hackathon, an IT contest to develop digital solutions based on open data. The ceremony and the hackathon were organized by the PCUz in collaboration with the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics (UZSTAT), the Technological Park of Software Products and Information Technologies (IT-Park Uzbekistan) and other national partners.

About twenty police officers, prosecutors, and representatives of the National Security Service and Investigative Committee of Armenia attended a training course on open-source IT forensics and network investigations held from 20 to 24 December 2021 at the Academy of Justice in Yerevan. The OSCE and the Council of Europe jointly organized the event, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia.

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina published the report “School names, symbols and manifestations at primary and secondary schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A status update with recommendations” on 27 December 2021.

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department and the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat jointly organized the online training course “Utilizing i2 Analyst’s Notebook and i2 iBase in criminal intelligence analysis” from 14 to 17 December 2021.

A four-day training workshop on issues related to the strategic trade control in Tajikistan, organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, concluded on 23 December 2021.

The 2021 early parliamentary elections in Moldova were well administered, competitive, and fundamental freedoms were largely respected. While lower-level commissions enjoyed trust, key decisions by the Central Election Commission brought its impartiality into question. Candidates had ample opportunities to campaign and voters were provided a wide range of alternatives. The legal framework does not adequately regulate electoral dispute resolution, and the handling of electoral complaints further highlighted the importance of strengthening judicial independence...

On 15 December 2021 in Nur-Sultan, Volker Frobarth, Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan and Nail Akhmetzakirov, Head of the Department for Provision of Courts’ Activity under the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the extra budgetary project on Improving the Effectiveness of the Justice System in Kazakhstan.