News and press releases
News and press releases from the OSCE's global activities.
On International Roma Day, OSCE/ODIHR Director calls for greater efforts to improve co-operation between police and Roma communities
Publishing date: 8 April 2014
WARSAW, 8 April 2014 – Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), called today for greater efforts to improve relations and co-operation between police forces and Roma communities. On the occasion of International Roma Day, he further called on law-enforcement authorities to ensure effective police responses to violence against Roma and Sinti people in the OSCE area...
On International Roma Day, the OSCE Mission to Serbia calls for tangible change in daily lives of Roma
Publishing date: 8 April 2014
BELGRADE, 8 April 2014 – On International Roma Day, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Ambassador Peter Burkhard, underlined the need for further efforts to ensure the greater inclusion of Roma in the public and socio-economic life...
OSCE trains staff of Kyrgyzstan’s National Centre for Torture Prevention
Publishing date: 8 April 2014
The OSCE Centre in Bishkek supported a training course in the capital from 5 to 8 April 2014 on human rights monitoring for staff of Kyrgyzstan’s National Centre for Torture Prevention (NTPC), NGO representatives, the National Ombudsman Office and the Co-ordination Council on Human Rights...
OSCE Secretary General visits Madrid
Publishing date: 7 April 2014
OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier visited Madrid for consultations on 7 April 2014. He held separate talks with the Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo and Spanish members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, where he discussed challenges in the OSCE region...
Although parliamentary elections in Hungary offered voters a diverse choice, ruling party enjoyed undue advantage, say international observers
Publishing date: 7 April 2014
BUDAPEST, 7 April 2014 – The 6 April 2014 parliamentary elections were well administered and offered voters a diverse choice, but a number of factors provided undue advantage to the ruling party, international observers said in a statement issued today. These included the manner in which a large number of changes to the legal framework were passed, restrictive campaign regulations, biased media coverage and the blurring of the separation between a ruling political party and the state...
OSCE-supported Building Bridges Fund allocates first grant
Publishing date: 7 April 2014
Medical students from the Nace Bugjoni high school in Kumanovo were the recipients of the first grant from the new Building Bridges Fund, and used the money to hold a public event on 7 April 2014 to raise awareness about World Health Day.
Press Release by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
Publishing date: 4 April 2014
Following their briefing of Minsk Group members in Vienna on April 3, the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Jacques Faure of France, and James Warlick of the United States of America) met on April 4 with the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, and Armenia, Edward Nalbandian. The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, also participated in the meeting.