News and press releases

WARSAW, 22 February 2022 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) expresses profound concern at the events unfolding in Eastern Ukraine, and emphasises the need to uphold and safeguard the human rights of all.

BELGRADE, 22 February 2022 – On the occasion of the European Day for Victims of Crime marked today, an expert panel discussion organized by the OSCE Mission to Serbia noted a positive trend in improving the support to victims and protecting their rights by Serbia’s judiciary and the police.

WARSAW, 11 January 2022 – Two decades after the opening of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in the aftermath of the security challenges following the events of 9/11, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) renews its calls for the camp’s swift closure.

WARSAW/VIENNA, 5 JANUARY 2022- I am closely following recent developments in Kazakhstan. I strongly believe that violence is never an appropriate response for resolving such tensions. This is why I call for a peaceful return to order and respect for democratic processes, while rights and freedoms, including freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, must be protected.

WARSAW, 29 December 2021 – Following two Russian court decisions this week to close both the International Memorial Society and its sister organization Human Rights Center Memorial, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) expressed profound concern and called on the Russian authorities to ensure a safe and enabling space for civil society.

WARSAW, 17 December 2021- As the world nears the end of a second year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, we see clearly that its impact has hit the most vulnerable hardest, with many migrants who were already facing challenges to access their basic rights now having greater difficulty in accessing employment, education, housing, and even the right to international protection, said the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights on the eve of International Migrants Day.

“Enforced and involuntary disappearances in dictatorship and authoritarian past and contemporary settings: a social, legal and historical appraisal of transitional and transformation polices and mechanisms,” was the topic of an international conference held in Tirana and online, from 13 to 15 December 2021.