News and press releases

Vienna, 1 April 2016- OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier today expressed deep sadness as news of former German Foreign Affairs Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher’s passing was announced. He extended his heartfelt condolences to OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the family and friends of the late minister, and to the German people.

COPENHAGEN, 1 April 2016 – On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) congratulated the thousands of parliamentarians involved in the OSCE PA for their immense contributions to the OSCE process and people since 1991...

BISHKEK, 1 April 2016 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev yesterday signed an agreement on extending the current operating modalities and academic independence of the OSCE Academy in Bishkek...

The SMM observed a sharp increase in the number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region. In Luhansk region the SMM recorded a low number of ceasefire violations. It facilitated dialogue within the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination. The SMM observed the marking of mined areas in the security zone. It followed up on reports of injured civilians. The Mission reached one border crossing point in areas not controlled by the Government. The SMM was restricted in its freedom of movement in areas not controlled by the Government, including in the border area*...

VIENNA, 31 March 2016 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović wrote today to Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs asking for more information about the shutting down of the sputniknews.lv news portal...

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities co-organized a conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on 28 to 29 March 2016 on education challenges in multilingual and multicultural contexts in Central Asia. The conference, organized with the French Institute for Central Asian Studies (IEFAC), UNICEF

ASHGABAT, 31 March 2016 – Ten high level-officers from the State Border Service of Turkmenistan took part in a roundtable meeting that took place today. The meeting was organized by the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat in co-operation with the State Border Service of Turkmenistan to assess the needs of the national border guards with the aim of enhancing their border patrol capacities...