News and press releases

KYIV/VIENNA, 4 April 2022 – International assistance to Ukraine is urgently needed to strengthen the country’s capacity in humanitarian demining and Explosive Ordnance Risk Education. This was the main message by Ambassador Henrik Villadsen, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, today as he marked the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

VIENNA, 4 April 2021 – Protecting victims of human trafficking and upholding their rights is the focus of the 22nd high-level OSCE Alliance Conference against Trafficking in Persons, which opened today in Vienna with over 850 registered participants.

BELGRADE, 4 April 2022 – Fundamental freedoms were largely respected in Serbia’s 3 April presidential and early parliamentary elections, and voters were presented diverse political options, but a number of shortcomings resulted in an uneven playing field, favouring the incumbents, international observers said in a statement today. The combined impact of unbalanced access to the media, undue pressure on public sector employees to support the incumbents, significant campaign finance disparities and misuse of state resources resulted in unequal conditions for contestants, the statement says...

BUDAPEST, 4 April 2022 – Hungary’s parliamentary elections offered voters distinct alternatives and were well run, but while competitive, the process was marred by the pervasive overlapping of government and ruling coalition’s messaging that blurred the line between state and party, as well as by media bias and opaque campaign funding, international observers said in a statement  today.

Eight prominent women politicians from the Alliance of Women Parliamentarians of Tajikistan have helped promote the issue of gender mainstreaming in a study visit to Skopje, North Macedonia. The event was part of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe’s support to gender mainstreaming, and was jointly organized with the OSCE Mission to Skopje from 29 March to 1 April 2022.  

WARSAW, 2 April 2022 — The OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Poland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Zbigniew Rau, concluded his visit to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The trip focused on existing security challenges and efforts towards sustainable peace as well as strengthening the co-operation between the OSCE and the three states in the South Caucasus region. Throughout the visit from 29 March to 1 April, Minister Rau noted the impact Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has exerted on the security situation in the region. In all capitals he paid particular attention to the situation of the conflict-affected populations.

On 28 and 29 March 2022, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM) Teresa Ribeiro visited the institutions of the European Union in Brussels.