News and press releases

The OSCE Project Co-Ordinator in Uzbekistan held an online conference on national and international experiences in liberalizing judicial and penitentiary systems on 17 July 2020, to mark Nelson Mandela International Day. The event was jointly organized with the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Oliy Majlis (parliament) of the Republic of Uzbekistan (Ombudsperson), the national movement Yuksalish, the UN Country Team and the regional office of NGO Prison Reform International in Central Asia (PRI).

OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger and the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Ghada Fathi Waly signed a plan of joint action for the period 2020-2022 today at UNODC in Vienna...

WARSAW, 17 July 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic has been a formative experience for all humanity and a health emergency of global proportions, presenting a huge challenge to national leaders, health systems, and citizens. The findings of a new report by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) shows that it has also been a test to our democracies and the respect for human rights to which countries across the OSCE committed many years ago.

ODIHR's recommendations on Azerbaijan 2020 elections ODIHR final report on the 2020 Azerbaijan early parliamentary elections A restrictive legal and political landscape meant that voters in the early parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan were not provided with meaningful choice despite a high

COPENHAGEN, 16 July 2020 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli has closely followed the situation along the border of Azerbaijan and Armenia and has been in contact this week with the countries’ OSCE PA delegations and relevant international actors. Today, he urged both sides to urgently de-escalate and to engage in “substantive negotiations"...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to localised

VIENNA / STOCKHOLM, 16 July 2020 – With the current pandemic putting a severe strain on societies all over the world, Sweden will take on the OSCE Chair in truly challenging times. This calls for a focus on the very fundamentals of the OSCE: the European security order, the comprehensive concept of security and continued efforts to resolve conflicts in the OSCE region, said Sweden’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Robert Rydberg today, as he addressed the Permanent Council on the incoming Chair’s priority areas...