News and press releases

BERLIN, 11 November 2016- As the final event in a series of outreach activities to young people across the OSCE region in 2016, Germany’s OSCE Chairmanship, in co-operation with the Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe, held a two-day youth conference in Berlin on 10 and 11 November. Thirty participants between the ages of 16 and 25 years from OSCE participating States gathered in the Federal Foreign Office to debate different notions of security in the OSCE region from a youth perspective...

Experts on political party regulation from the OSCE region, including the Core Group of Experts on Political Parties of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), met in Warsaw on 10 and 11 November 2016 to examine how new technologies affect the functioning of political

ASTANA, 11 November 2016- An OSCE-supported roundtable discussion on addressing sexual harassment in the workplace took place today for some 40 members of Parliament, high-level government officials and civil society representatives in Astana, Kazakhstan. It was aimed at supporting the host country in implementing the OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality...

WARSAW, 11 November 2016 – Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), today called on the European Union and Greek authorities to act urgently to provide adequate shelter and living conditions for the estimated 50,000 migrants, asylum seekers and refugees now staying in Greece...

KYIV, 10 November 2016- Following a recent sharp increase in fighting in eastern Ukraine, Ertugrul Apakan, Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), called on the sides to exercise maximum restraint and establish a full and sustainable ceasefire...

At 10:10 on 9 November, having crossed into non-government controlled areas, an SMM patrol (of six members in two vehicles) at the entry-exit checkpoint south-east of “DPR”-controlled Verkhnioshyrokivske (formerly Oktiabr, 85km south of Donetsk), heard five outgoing explosions followed by five impacts; two-three impacts were seen about 100 metres south-south-east. Then, the SMM heard and saw a further three to five impacts, some about 50 metres south-east of its position. The SMM could not determine the weapons used...

VIENNA, 10 November 2016 – Addressing the 57 OSCE participating States and the OSCE Partners for Co-operation in the Permanent Council in Vienna today, Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Cooperation of Afghanistan Adela Raz underlined the importance to her country of its partnership with the OSCE...