News and press releases

Digital and media literacy, gender equality and human rights of persons with disabilities were the main topics of the seminar “Informed, motivated and active youth”, organized in Budva from 22 to 24 November by the NGO Centre for Youth Education, with the support of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, for 20 young people aged 18 to 30 from across Montenegro.

On November 24, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz), together with the Ombudsperson for Children and the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan convened the round table on “Preventing the involvement of children and youth in criminal activities on Internet” in

SKOPJE/VIENNA/WARSAW, 25 November 2023- Launching the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, OSCE leaders called on participating States to step up their efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls, end impunity and support survivors.

As part of ongoing efforts by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to strengthen democratic institutions and respect for human rights in the OSCE region, ODIHR Director Matteo Mecacci visited Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Mongolia on 7-17 November 2023. This began

An OSCE-organized regional workshop on gender mainstreaming in border management, held in a blended format, took place on 23 and 24 November 2023 in Ashgabat. The workshop brought together, online and in-person, officials from the five Central Asian countries’ border security and management agencies.

Election experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented the final reports on Kazakhstan’s 2023 early parliamentary elections, 2022 early presidential election and 2022 referendum during a visit to Astana and Almaty that took place from 20 to 24 November

On 24 November, OSCE participating States met in Vienna at an event hosted by the Secretary General to seek an end to the scourge of femicide and to develop a roadmap to end the killing of women, merely for being women.

From 20 to 24 November, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department and INTERPOL in co-operation with the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek and the Ministry of Interior of the Kyrgyz Republic, conducted a training course on criminal intelligence analysis for Kyrgyz police officers.

On 24 November 2023, the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe completed its second Operational Planning Training course for 22 Staff Officers of the Tajik Border Troops in Bokhtar, Khatlon Region.

The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department, and the Permanent Representation of France to the OSCE organized a study visit to Paris for government officials from Tajikistan, familiarizing them with France’s approach to the protection of soft targets from terrorist attacks.

How to investigate and report on gender-based violence with a victim-centred approach, was the focus of a training course the OSCE Mission to Montenegro organized for students from the Media Studies and Journalism Department of the Faculty of Political Science on 23 November.

VIENNA, 23 November 2023 – At a pivotal juncture for media freedom, Teresa Ribeiro, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, delivered her sixth biannual report to the Permanent Council today. The report, a reflection on her three-year tenure, portrays a media environment under duress. With media freedom serving as a barometer of democratic viability, Ribeiro's findings signal an urgent call to action.

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo, in co-operation with the Council of Europe and the Kosovo Assembly, organized on 22 November 2023 in Prishtinë/Priština a high-level panel on the role of the Assembly in monitoring the implementation of the Istanbul Convention. Preceding the “16 Days of Activism against

The State Commission for Religious Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic hosted the International Conference "Kyrgyzstan- a Country of Interfaith Peace and Harmony" with the support of the Programme Office in Bishkek. The Conference is dedicated to fostering collaboration on current religious issues and interfaith harmony.

On November 23, the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina successfully hosted a Cybersecurity/ICT Fair in Sarajevo. The primary goal of the event was to increase awareness and networking possibilities among stakeholders from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the surrounding region, including the public sector, businesses, academia, women, and youth. This distinctive platform serves as a crucial space for professionals and decision-makers to exchange best practices while supporting increased collaboration in the field of cybersecurity, with a particular focus on the meaningful participation of women and youth.

On 23 November, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department and the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan organized a lecture on cryptocurrency-related crimes for the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Tashkent. The OSCE briefed around 120 cadets and

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department and the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan brought together twenty-five senior representatives from all the major Central Asian law enforcement educational institutions and the staff from the regional OSCE field operations to discuss best practices in training criminal justice practitioners on the investigation of cybercrimes and other crimes involving electronic evidence.

On 21-22 November, the two-day training on preventing trafficking in human beings the hospitality sector was conducted by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz) in co-operation with the National Commission on Combatting Trafficking in Persons and Forced Labour. Thirty-two (seven women

Numerous representatives of BiH civil society, media, experts and the international community called on the RS authorities to withdraw the draft legislation on ‘foreign agents’ at the “Civil Society and the Media: Critical Voices Under Pressure” conference held in Dom omladine in Banja Luka on 22 November 2023. The conference was organized by the EU Office in BiH with the OSCE Mission to BiH and Transparency International in BiH.

The 11th Working Group Meeting on Environmental Protection under the Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Chu-Talas Water Commission (the Commission) took place on 21 November 2023 in Almaty city. The meeting was supported and co-organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana (POiA) and the OSCE

On 21 November 2023, the State Financial Intelligence Service of the Kyrgyz Republic presented the Unified Financial Intelligence Information and Analytical System (UFIAS) with the support of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek (POiB). This innovative system aims to combat financial crimes and terrorism financing.

The 2023 early parliamentary elections in Greece took place in a competitive and pluralistic environment, and fundamental freedoms were respected. Voters were provided with ample information to make an informed choice. While some technical aspects could be improved, the election was effectively

VIENNA, 21 November 2023 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro, has concluded her visit to Uzbekistan which took place from 15 to 17 November. The visit included a series of high-level meetings with Uzbekistan’s officials, including Deputy Foreign Minister, Gairat Fazilov, Assistant to the President, Saida Mirziyoyeva, Chair of the Committee of the Legislative Chamber for Innovations, Information Policy and Information Technologies, Ilhom Abdullayev, and the Director of the Agency for Information and Mass Communications, Asadjon Khodjaev.

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department, the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, the Ministry of Science, Higher Education and Youth of the Canton of Sarajevo and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina delivered the second multi-stakeholder event to discuss the draft of the 2024-2028 Canton of Sarajevo youth strategy.

See for yourself, you’re not small boy – is a title of the campaign the OSCE Mission to Montenegro launched on 21 November in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, NGO Women’s Safe House and the Football Association of Montenegro.

On 21 November 2023, Turkmenistan’s International University for Humanities and Development hosted an OSCE-supported conference on engaging youth in addressing climate change.

Two aspiring entrepreneurs from the Kyrgyz Republic, Mr. Nurgazy Raev and Ms. Tansuluu Arstanbekova participated at the Chairmanship in Office’s (CiO) Youth Forum titled "Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Creating a Sustainable Future in the OSCE Region." This initiative underscores commitments of the OSCE participating states to advancing and nurturing youth entrepreneurship within the OSCE region.

On the occasion of World Children's Day, the Mission would like to remind all institutions and individuals of their responsibility to protect children from any and all forms of discrimination.

Crafting project applications on youth mobility, co-operation, activism and intercultural learning was the focus of a three-day capacity building training course, the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) Local Branch Office in Montenegro organized with the support of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro from 14 to 17 November in Bar.

From 15 to 17 November 2023, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department (TNTD), the OSCE Mission to Serbia, and the Serbian Ministry of the Interior delivered a National Table-Top Exercise (TTX) in Belgrade on countering the use of the internet for terrorist purposes.

An OSCE-organized five-day train-the-trainers course (ToT) for facilitators of Women’s Resource Centres (WRCs) concluded on 17 November 2023 in Dushanbe.

The OSCE delivered a national training course on gender-responsive policing of violence against women and girls from 13 to 17 November in Riviera Golem, Albania.

Belgrade, 17 November 2023- The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened an election observation mission for the 17 December early parliamentary elections in Serbia, following an official invitation from the national authorities.

On 16 November, the Green Economy Forum 2023: Common Goals for Sustainable Development of the Central Asian Region took place in Bishkek. The Forum brought together representatives from Central Asian countries and international experts in the field of sustainable business and management to discuss common challenges and find solutions for scaling green initiatives.

Fourteen supervisory and law enforcement officials from Ukraine enhanced their knowledge and skills in identifying and investigating financial crimes conducted with cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets in a training course held from 14 to 17 November 2023 in Vienna. The course was organized by the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Following the successful completion of the anti-corruption masterclasses series, organized in co-operation with four national universities (Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Goce Delcev University- Shtip, University St. Kliment Ohridski Bitola and South East European University), the expressed enthusiasm by the students and in order to further encourage active anti-corruption engagement, OSCE Mission to Skopje is organizing an essay writing competition for students.

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Kairat Abdrakhmanov and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) Tatiana Valovaya organized a roundtable on Promoting Conflict Prevention through the Socio-Economic Inclusion of Minorities on 15 November 2023 at the Palais

The purpose of the conference was to reflect on the 2003 criminal justice system reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to assess the progress made over the past two decades, while also recognizing ongoing challenges.

WARSAW, 16 November 2023 – Launching its annual Hate Crime Report on today’s International Day for Tolerance, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) emphasized the importance of identifying the underlying bias motives of hate crimes in order to diminish the impact on victims and assist their recovery.

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department launched a new training guide on human rights compliance in cybercrime investigations.

ASTANA, 15 November 2023 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro, concluded a two-day official visit to Kazakhstan. During the visit, she engaged in a series of productive meetings with various stakeholders, including Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roman Vassilenko, and Assistant to the President on internal policies and communication Ruslan Zheldybay. She also met with members of Parliament, including the Chair of the Committee for Social and Cultural Development of the Mazhilis, Ashkat Aimagambetov, the Chair of the Working Group on Drafting the Law on Mass Media, Zhanarbek Ashimzhanov, and with MP Nikita Shatalov.

As part of an extrabudgetary initiative aimed at mitigating the risks associated with the illicit movement of small arms, ammunition, and explosives across the State Border of the Kyrgyz Republic, the OSCE is enhancing the institutional capacity of the Border Service of the State Committee for National Security of the Kyrgyz Republic to effectively counter transnational threats.

The workshop aimed to facilitate the development of the 2023-2027 BiH Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy (DRR Strategy), in accordance with the BiH Council of Ministers' Conclusion of 9 November, 2022 and with requirements of the global Sendai DRR Framework for 2015-2030.

SKOPJE, 14 November 2023 – Innovative and entrepreneurial solutions for creating a culture of peace, dialogue, justice, trust, and reconciliation were the focus of the Youth Forum organized by the OSCE 2023 Chairpersonship of North Macedonia with the support of the OSCE Secretariat.

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department and the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan delivered a training course on women leadership and effective communication strategies in Tashkent on 8-10 November.

We are deeply saddened by the femicide case that occurred in Sarajevo yesterday and we express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the victim.

From 10 to 12 November, a training course on intercultural dialogue and professional reporting standards gathered in Budva 14 young journalists from both prominent media outlets and youth magazines, as well as youth interested in journalism, from across Montenegro. The event was organized by the Regional Youth Co-operation Office (RYCO) Local Branch Office in Montenegro, with the support of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro.

10 November, 2023 In a significant milestone, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Kyrgyz Republic conducted a comprehensive presentation today on the outcomes of a year-long implementation of the Automated Information System, titled "Registration of Inspections of Business Entities."

SKOPJE, 14 November 2023 – The OSCE expert network, which will serve as a point of consultation and dialogue on the three dimensions of the OSCE, was launched in Skopje by the OSCE 2023 Chairpersonship of North Macedonia and the OSCE Secretariat.

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Kairat Abdrakhmanov visited Norway from 6 to 10 November 2023.