News and press releases

The situation in the central-southern part of the Luhansk region and the central part of the Donetsk region remained volatile. Other parts of the country remained calm...

VIENNA, 11 July 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today warned about actions that could further limit media freedom and media pluralism in Luhansk and Crimea...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented its Handbook on Promoting Women’s Participation in Political Parties at a side event on the second day of the OSCE Gender Equality Review Conference in Vienna on 11 July 2014.

COPENHAGEN, 11 July 2014 – Senior OSCE parliamentarians have addressed the OSCE’s Gender Equality Review Conference in Vienna, discussing the progress made and the challenges that remain in closing the gender gap within the Organization, the OSCE area and their respective countries...

Complying with human rights standards while enhancing counter-terrorism strategies and skills was the focus of two days of training for law enforcement officers from Bosnia and Herzegovina organized in Sarajevo by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in co-operation with the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 10 and 11 July 2014.

VIENNA, 11 July – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today called on the Croatian authorities to respect free speech on social media platforms, following a case where an individual was fined for offending the police on Facebook...

DUSHANBE, 11 July 2014 – Taking a comprehensive approach in managing irregular migration and tackling problems of human trafficking on borders was the focus of a week-long training course that finished today at the OSCE Border Management Staff College...

The situation in the central-southern part of the Luhansk region and the central part of the Donetsk region remained volatile. Other parts of the country remained calm...

SARAJEVO, 11 July 2014 – The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina has opened five temporary premises to provide support in the aftermath of the devastating floods and landslides that struck the country in May. They are now operational in Bijeljina, Maglaj, Orasje, Samac and Prijedor and add to the Mission’s existing structure of 11 field offices covering the entire territory of BiH...

The situation in the central-southern part of the Luhansk region and the central part of the Donetsk region remained volatile. Other parts of the country remained calm...

One priority of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship is to strengthen the voice of young people and enhance their involvement within OSCE structures. To achieve this goal, the Swiss Chairmanship is organizing a Model OSCE series in which 57 young men and women from the OSCE participating States were invited to take part...

VIENNA, 10 July 2014 – The OSCE and participating States have made commendable advances in making gender equality a reality since the adoption of an action plan ten years ago, but new initiatives are needed in areas where progress has been lacking, said participants of the OSCE’s first Gender Equality Review Conference, today in Vienna...

SARAJEVO, 10 July 2014 – Roles and activities of various actors in relief operations during the floods that struck Bosnia and Herzegovina in May 2014 were analyzed at a roundtable event held today by the Council of Ministers’ Inter-ministerial Working Group on Security Policy and the BiH Coordination Body for Protection and Rescue, with the support of the OSCE Mission to BiH...

VIENNA, 10 July 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about the blocking of the news website Amjilt.com in Mongolia...

In her second statement to the Permanent Council on 10 July 2014, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors focused on aspects of the crisis in Ukraine related to her mandate...

VIENNA, 10 July 2014- Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans today stressed his strong belief that the OSCE can lead the way in conflict resolution after showing its worth in the Ukraine crisis...

THE HAGUE, 10 July 2014 – Spravedlivost, a non-governmental organization based in Jalal-Abad in southern Kyrgyzstan, has been named as the 2014 winner of the Max van der Stoel Award, for its outstanding work in improving the position of national minorities in the OSCE area...

The Ukrainian security operation in the east of the country continued. The situation in the central-southern part of the Luhansk region and the central part of the Donetsk region remained volatile. Other parts of the country remained calm...

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Astrid Thors, on a trip to Chisinau and Tiraspol on 7 and 8 July 2014, expressed her concern that schools teaching in the Latin-script could face closure by the authorities in Tiraspol if an agreement is not reached before the start of the next school year on 1 September...

ANKARA, 9 July 2014 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened a limited election observation mission (LEOM) for the 10 August presidential election in Turkey. The mission’s deployment follows an invitation from the Turkish authorities...

VIENNA, 9 July 2014- On the tenth anniversary of the death of Forbes magazine editor Paul Klebnikov the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, today called on the government of the Russian Federation to end impunity for crimes committed against journalists...

BISHKEK, 9 July 2014 – The OSCE Centre in Bishkek, the OSCE Secretariat (Transnational Threats Department) and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in co-operation with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) facilitated at the request of the Kyrgyz Government the deployment of an assessment mission focussing on security of travel documents and of their issuance process...

VIENNA, 8 July 2014 – Twenty years after its adoption, the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects remains an indispensable instrument in exercising democratic control of the armed and security forces, guaranteeing their political neutrality, fostering human rights of service personnel, and governing security relations between States, stressed the speakers at the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Code of Conduct held today in Vienna.

The OSCE Presence in Albania presented on 7 July 2014 a project against child trafficking and exploitation...

The campaign of the Ukrainian forces in the east of the country continued. Other parts of the country remained calm.

VIENNA, 8 July 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today condemned a recent attack on the editorial office of the Vesti newspaper in Kyiv...

Co-operation between the OSCE and the United Nations in security sector governance and reform (SSG/R) was the topic of a conference that took place in Vienna on 7 July 2014. The conference was jointly organized by the OSCE and the UN and co-hosted by Switzerland and Slovakia...

VIENNA, 7 July 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about proposed amendments to the Russian law on advertising, which would prohibit commercials on private pay television channels...

The military campaign of the Ukrainian army in the east of the country continued. The situation was stable elsewhere across the country...

VIENNA, 7 July 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today said that she was deeply worried about lengthy prison sentences handed down to two bloggers in Azerbaijan...

The Trilateral Contact Group of senior representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the OSCE met in Kiev on July 6, 2014.

The military campaign of the Ukrainian army in the east of the country continued. The situation was stable elsewhere across the country.

SARAJEVO, 4 July 2014- Eight young people from Bosnia and Herzegovina have been selected as members of the newly-established Youth Advisory Group at the OSCE Mission to the country, and today held their first meeting with Mission staff in Sarajevo...

Strategies for combatting and reporting hate crimes were the focus of two training events – one for Italian civil society activists and the other for law enforcement officers – organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Rome from 30 June to 4 July 2014.

Tensions remained in parts of Donbas. The situation was calm elsewhere across the country...

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Astrid Thors noted the stable inter-ethnic situation in Kazakhstan during her first visit to the country from 23 to 27 June 2014, and commended the authorities for taking a balanced approach to laws and policies in potentially sensitive areas, such as language...

DUSHANBE, 4 July 2014 – A week-long workshop on enhancing border security and countering illicit trafficking for representatives of national border and drug control agencies of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and staff of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, ended today at the OSCE Border Management

Staff from the Albanian Foreign Ministry, Central Election Commission and civil society on 4 July 2014 completed a three-day training course in Tirana on short-term election observation. The course was jointly organized by the OSCE Presence in Albania and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)...

DUSHANBE, 4 July 2014 – Twenty-one Tajik border guard officers from detachments at the Tajik-Afghan border completed today a five-week training course on patrolling and leadership...

VIENNA, 3 July 2014- OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today condemned yesterday’s brutal attack on the editor of FoNet news agency, Davor Pašalić.

VIENNA, 3 July 2014 – OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier today congratulated Ilkka Kanerva of Finland on his election as President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA)...

VIENNA, 3 July 2014 – Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of democracy and must be ensured and strengthened in the OSCE region, participants said today at the opening of a two-day OSCE human rights meeting in Vienna...

Tensions remained in parts of Donbas. The situation was calm elsewhere across the country...

SARAJEVO, 3 July 2014 – The Acting Head of OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina Nina Suomalainen today expressed her support for all the efforts aimed at enabling elections in the city of Mostar to be held in parallel with the general elections due in October 2014...

YEREVAN, 3 July 2014 – The OSCE Office in Yerevan announced today a call for civil society organizations to submit project concepts aimed at addressing environment and security challenges under the Civic Action for Security and Environment (CASE) small grants programme...

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Navi Pillay addressed the OSCE Permanent Council on 3 July 2014 to mark the deeper co-operation between her office and OSCE...

Kyrgyzstan has been removed from the ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and will no longer be subject to the FATF’s monitoring process under its ongoing global process of compliance with requirements on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). This was announced at the third FATF Plenary meeting held from 25 to 27 June 2014 in Paris. The OSCE Centre in Bishkek contributed to this through providing technical assistance to Kyrgyzstan...

DUSHANBE, 3 July 2014 – Today the OSCE Office in Tajikistan jointly with the OSCE Centre in Bishkek and in close co-operation with the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) completed a four-day training course on conflict prevention...

Tensions remained in parts of Donbas. The situation was calm elsewhere across the country...

WARSAW, 2 July 2014 – Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), today congratulated Finnish Member of Parliament Ilkka Kanerva on his election as President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA)...