News and press releases

VIENNA, 12 January 2012 – Today the Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore addressed the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna for the first time in his role as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. Deputy Prime Minister Gilmore emphasised the need for the OSCE’s co-operative, inclusive approach in tackling modern security challenges...

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier met French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé in Paris on 11 January 2012...

VIENNA, 11 January 2012 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, condemned today the sentencing of Ales Barazenka, an independent Belarusian cameraman, to 11 days’ imprisonment for "participating in an unsanctioned event"...

WARSAW, 10 January 2012 – On the eve of tomorrow’s tenth anniversary of the transfer of the first detainees to the United States naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), expressed dismay today at the continued practice of indefinite detention without charge or trial of terrorism suspects...

CHISINAU, 5 January 2012 – The Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Ambassador Philip Remler, today expressed his concern at the fatal shooting in the Security Zone of the Transdniestrian conflict on 1 January...

Bulgaria’s presidential and municipal elections in October were generally characterized by a respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, but pervasive allegations of vote-buying underscored the need for continued reform, the final report released by ODIHR on 5 January 2012 concludes...

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo invites civil society organizations in Gjilan/Gnjilane and Prizren regions to submit project proposals on the empowerment of vulnerable groups, public participation in municipal decision making or improving access to municipal services...