News and press releases
News and press releases from the OSCE's global activities.
OSCE promotes cross-border trade and transit in Turkmenistan
Publishing date: 27 May 2020
An OSCE-organized online training on border crossing facilitation for transit goods carried by rail and road, opened in Ashgabat on 27 May 2020. The training is organized within the framework of the Centre’s extra-budgetary project on “Strengthening State Border Service Capacities in Turkmenistan”, which places a particular focus on promoting cross-border trade and transit in the Central Asian region.
OSCE donates protective equipment to Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Publishing date: 21 May 2020
The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as a part of its wider initiative to support Bosnia and Herzegovina in its pandemic response provided, on 21 May 2020 in Sarajevo, protective equipment and sanitizer for the BiH Border Police...
ODIHR Director very concerned about decision to uphold life sentence for Azimjan Askarov
Publishing date: 13 May 2020
WARSAW, 13 May 2020 – Following the decision of Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court today to uphold the life sentence of human rights defender Azimjan Askarov, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) expressed her deep disappointment...
States of emergency stress-testing democracy, OSCE parliamentarians hear in COVID-focused webinar
Publishing date: 8 May 2020
COPENHAGEN, 8 May 2020 – More than 50 members of parliament from across the OSCE region participated in an online discussion today focused on the human rights consequences and democratic challenges posed by responses to the COVID-19 pandemic...
Good governance must not be a victim of the COVID-19 crisis, says OSCE PA Special Representative on Fighting Corruption Charalambides
Publishing date: 8 May 2020
COPENHAGEN, 8 May 2020 – Significant efforts must be made to ensure that coronavirus-related emergency public spending measures adhere to the highest levels of transparency and principles of good governance, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Representative on Fighting Corruption, Irene Charalambides (MP, Cyprus), said today. She noted that with governments taking a series of important decisions and allocating enormous sums of money to prop up the economy, legally prescribed procurement procedures must be followed...
OSCE Presence brings together Albania’s institutions to boost fight against environmental crime
Publishing date: 6 May 2020
Environmental crime in Albania increased in the first four months of 2020 compared to the same period last year, according to police reports...
Joint Statement of the International Community in BiH on the Occasion of the World Press Freedom Day
Publishing date: 3 May 2020
SARAJEVO, 03 May 2020- On the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, the OSCE Mission to BiH, Council of Europe, Delegation of the European Union and European Union Special Representative in BiH, Office of the High Representative, United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and embassies of France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States of America, issue the following statement:...