News and press releases
News and press releases from the OSCE's global activities.
Malta takes over OSCE Chair
Publishing date: 1 January 2024
VALLETTA/VIENNA, 1 January 2024- Today, Malta takes over the OSCE Chairpersonship with a focus on strengthening the Organization’s resilience and effectiveness.
OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Secretary General condemn air strikes across Ukraine
Publishing date: 29 December 2023
SKOPJE/VIENNA, 29 December 2023 – The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani, and OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid made the following statement after air strikes hit cities across Ukraine and left at least 18 people dead and over 130 wounded.
Clearance of affected lands from explosive hazard: Ukrainian officials, regional authorities and humanitarian demining operators discussed strategic approaches to efficient mine action
Publishing date: 14 December 2023
Within primary financial support from the European Union, the OSCE Secretariat Extra-Budgetary Support Programme for Ukraine (SPU) organised a roundtable “Priority Setting in Mine Action and Draft National Strategy” in Kyiv on 14 December 2023.
OSCE-organized training courses build skills and knowledge of the State Emergency Services in Ukraine
Publishing date: 12 December 2023
The war against Ukraine is having a devastating impact on civilians and civilian infrastructures, with widespread destruction of housing, schools, medical facilities, and health care centers. In a series of three training courses, the OSCE, through the WIN Project, trained 76 employees of the State Emergency Services on gender-sensitive and disability-inclusive humanitarian response and women's leadership in humanitarian action.
OSCE-supported seminar provides Ukraine’s media community leaders a space for in-depth review of journalistic ethics and challenges to media freedom in times of war
Publishing date: 5 December 2023
Ukrainian journalists, editors, media managers, communication experts from governmental and public sectors spent four days in a Carpathian resort to withdraw from day-to-day work hassle and war-related trials in order to take a critical look at the state of affairs in country’s media sphere at a seminar organized by Aspen Institute Kyiv and the OSCE Secretariat Extra-Budgetary Support Programme for Ukraine (SPU). The event "Media and Reality: Dimensions of Responsibility," that took place in Polyana, Zakarpathia oblast on 29 November – 3 December 2023, involved 24 media community leaders selected through an open call for applications.
Civil society groups call for halt of war against Ukraine ahead of OSCE Ministerial Council
Publishing date: 29 November 2023
SKOPJE, 29 November 2023 — Putting a stop to the war against Ukraine and strengthening civil society across the OSCE were at the heart of recommendations put forward by civil society representatives from across the OSCE region. The recommendations were handed down at the annual OSCE Parallel Civil Society Conference held in Skopje today.
“Defending media freedom is defending the core of democratic societies,” says OSCE Media Freedom Representative
Publishing date: 23 November 2023
VIENNA, 23 November 2023 – At a pivotal juncture for media freedom, Teresa Ribeiro, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, delivered her sixth biannual report to the Permanent Council today. The report, a reflection on her three-year tenure, portrays a media environment under duress. With media freedom serving as a barometer of democratic viability, Ribeiro's findings signal an urgent call to action.