News and press releases

OSH, Kyrgyzstan, 20 May 2016 – The OSCE Centre in Bishkek, in co-operation with the non-governmental organization Ensan-Diamond and the local public association “Peace Messengers”, conducted three one-day training courses on conflict prevention and mediation in Osh city for some 100 members of Women Initiative Groups from the Batken, Jalal-Abad and Osh provinces...

ST. PETERSBURG, 20 May 2016 – Addressing the plenary session of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS) in St. Petersburg today, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) stressed the importance of building bridges between nations and between international inter-parliamentary organizations, welcoming the focus of the IPA CIS session on economic and environmental challenges...

ULAANBAATAR, 20 May 2016 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened an election observation mission to monitor the 29 June parliamentary elections in Mongolia...

The SMM observed an increased level of violence in Donetsk region and similar levels in Luhansk region compared to the previous day. The Mission continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons and visited border areas not controlled by the Government. It followed up on reports of shelling in Krasnohorivka, and on reports of casualties due to an anti-tank mine explosion near Pavlopil. The SMM also monitored a protest by internally displaced persons in Odessa, and peaceful commemorations of the 1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatars in Kherson region and Kyiv city. The Mission’s freedom of movement was restricted on two occasions...

An OSCE-supported two-day training seminar on human rights protection mechanisms for some 280 representatives of the government, students and civil society concluded in Aktobe, Kazakhstan on 19 May 2016...

A memorandum of understanding signed on 19 May 2016 by the OSCE Office in Yerevan, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development, and the Union of Government Employees NGO aims to enhance the transparency and accountability of the community civil service of Armenia’s municipalities, local self-government bodies, and to improve relevant legislation, bringing it in line with international standards to reduce corruption in public administration...

DUSHANBE, 19 May 2016- Today seventeen female border professionals from Afghanistan and five border officials from Tajikistan graduated from a ten-day border management awareness course at the OSCE Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe, Tajikistan...