News and press releases

LVIV, 16 May 2014 – In the latest in a series of high-level visits to Ukraine ahead of the presidential election later this month, senior members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly today emphasized the importance of holding a fair vote in line with OSCE election-related commitments.

The ‘right to be forgotten’ and its possible implications for investigative journalism and media freedom.

TIRANA, 16 May 2014 – The Deputy Minister of Interior, Ilirjan Mustafaraj, the Deputy Director of the State Police, Altin Qato, and the Deputy Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Robert Wilton, recognized 33 mid-level police managers for their successful completion of a leadership development training programme...

The OSCE Centre in Bishkek, in co-operation with the State Academy of Law under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, organized a two-day conference on 15 and 16 May 2014 in Bishkek on the fight against organized crime...

VIENNA, 15 May 2014 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today released the first study of its kind demonstrating how visa requirements affect the movement of people across borders in the OSCE region.

BERN / VIENNA, 15 May 2014- Foreign ministers from the 57 OSCE participating States have taken a consensus decision to extend the term of the OSCE Secretary General, Ambassador Lamberto Zannier of Italy, for another three years...

VIENNA, 15 May 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today said she was outraged by the lengthy prison sentence handed down to journalist Parviz Hashimli, yet more proof of the deteriorating Azerbaijani media freedom environment...

In Donetsk and Luhansk the situation remained volatile. Other parts of Ukraine remained calm...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Centre in Astana shared experience from other OSCE participating States at a roundtable discussion in Astana on 15 May 2014 on devising effective mechanisms to strengthen the independence of the national judicial system.

DUSHANBE, 15 May 2014 – Representative of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Alexander Bobrov today visited the OSCE Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe and addressed participants of the 11th Staff Course...

SARAJEVO, 15 May 2014 – The second stage of the Security Sector Reform training pro-gramme, co-organized by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Armed Forces of BiH Joint Staff and the Centre for Security Studies, concluded in Sarajevo today...

The OSCE Centre in Bishkek, and the State Finance Intelligence Service under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic (SFIS) on 15 May 2014 in Bishkek signed an agreement on the launch of a joint project on combatting money laundering and terrorism financing...

BERN, 14 May 2014- Referring to today’s first roundtable on national unity, held in Kyiv, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister, Didier Burkhalter, welcomed the successful launch of a nationwide dialogue, led and owned by Ukraine...

TIRANA, 14 May 2014- Representatives of government institutions, parliament, political parties, civil society and international organizations met today in Tirana to discuss issues concerning the financing of political parties and electoral campaigns. The event was organized by the Central Election Commission (CEC) with the support of the OSCE Presence in Albania...

In Donetsk and Luhansk the situation remained volatile. The self-declared 'People's Governor' of Luhansk survived a reported assassination attempt. Other parts of Ukraine remained calm...

VIENNA, 14 May 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today welcomed the adoption of a public broadcasting law in Ukraine as a significant effort to institutionally reinforce media freedom in the country...

A two-day training course for national ministry representatives on UN Security Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, highlighting the importance of including women in peace processes and conflict resolution, was held on 13 and 14 May 2014, in Chisinau...

The OSCE and the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) concluded on 14 May 2014 in Istanbul a joint workshop on women’s roles in countering violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism. More than 20 speakers, including women members of national parliaments, women’s rights advocates and community leaders, shared their experience and insights with participants from governments and civil society from across the world...

Elections experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) met with a delegation from the Icelandic Ministry of the Interior in Warsaw on 14 May 2014 to discuss ODIHR Election Assessment Mission’s final report for the 2013 parliamentary elections in Iceland.

BELGRADE, 13 May 2014- Ambassador Gérard Stoudmann, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Western Balkans met Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić in Belgrade on 12 May, and on a trip to southwest Serbia, Stoudmann welcomed the progress made by Serbian authorities in the search for missing persons...

VIENNA, 13 May 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed her concern about fines handed down to four Danish journalists for defamation...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) brought together 17 women representatives from 13 OSCE participating States to speak about their experiences of discrimination, including as the victims of hate crimes, at a focus group meeting in Warsaw on 13 May 2014.

The situation in Ukraine remained calm with the exception of Donetsk where the situation remained tense...

The situation in Ukraine remained calm with the exception of Donetsk where the situation remained tense...

Representatives from the OSCE and the Council of Europe met on 12 and 13 May 2014 in Tirana to co-ordinate their work on local government issues in southeastern Europe...

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro supported the country’s biggest voluntary clean-up of illegal dumpsites during a special campaign held on 10 May 2014...

BERN, 12 May 2014- The OSCE Roadmap, drafted in a sense of urgency last week as the situation in Ukraine had deteriorated further, and distributed simultaneously to the four parties of the Geneva Joint Statement of April 17, is an offer to help implementing de-escalation measures in a concrete, structured and effective manner, Burkhalter said...

The situation in Ukraine remained calm with the exceptions of Donetsk and Luhansk where the situation remained tense. Members of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) were stopped at an illegal checkpoint in the vicinity of Luhansk and released 3 hours later...

Police, immigration authorities and other actors should ensure that child trafficking victims are not arrested or detained, but provided with access to justice, the OSCE acting Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Ruth Freedom Pojman, told a forum on missing children and child trafficking in Thessaloniki, Greece on 8 and 9 May 2014...

COPENHAGEN, 12 May 2014 – Deepened co-operation and permanent channels of communication between parliamentary bodies are needed to meet today’s challenges, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Mehmet Sevki Kulkuloglu told a gathering of international human rights experts in Warsaw today.

WARSAW / THE HAGUE, 12 May 2014 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) today released the report from the joint Human Rights Assessment Mission the two institutions sent to Ukraine in early March 2014...

WARSAW, 12 May 2014 – Enhanced co-operation between the OSCE and regional and international actors is key to supporting the implementation of OSCE commitments in the Human Dimension, participants at the opening of an OSCE meeting in Warsaw said today...

An awareness campaign with the ultimate goal of helping Ukrainian voters to fully exercise their rights in elections was launched on 8 May 2014 by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU) upon request from the country’s Central Election Commission...

The Municipal Gender Focal Point Network completed a two-day training course on 10 May 2014 in Podgorica on communication skills and public speaking. The course was organized by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, in co-operation with the Human and Minority Rights Ministry’s Gender Department and ten Montenegrin municipalities, and different national partners...

Bern, 12 May 2014- The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, welcomed the statement made today by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in commemoration of the ceasefire that entered into force on 12 May 1994. He expressed his gratitude to the Co-Chairs (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Jacques Faure of France, and James Warlick of the United States of America) and to Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, his Personal Representative on the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, for their tireless mediation efforts...

YEREVAN, 12 May 2014 – Identifying the security implications of climate change for Armenia and mapping the areas most at risk is the focus of a national consultation workshop held today in Yerevan with OSCE support...

VIENNA, 12 May 2014 – OSCE Media Freedom Representative Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about several proposed amendments to the Moldovan audiovisual legislation...

ISTANBUL, 12 May 2014 – An advanced training course for Turkish border guards aimed at further enhancing their skills in detecting forged travel documents started in Istanbul today...

MOSCOW, PARIS, WASHINGTON, 12 May 2014 – On the twentieth anniversary of the 1994 ceasefire agreement, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs invite the people of the region to reflect upon the legacy of the past two decades.

The situation in Ukraine was calm with the exception of the Donetsk region. The overall security situation in the Donetsk region has further deteriorated, with the outbreak of fighting in Mariupol on 9 May.

COPENHAGEN, 10 May 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ranko Krivokapic today called on separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts of eastern Ukraine to cancel planned referendums on self-rule scheduled for 11 May.

KYIV, 9 May 2014- The Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan, said he was saddened to hear of the deadly fighting today in Mariupol, Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine...

The situation in Ukraine was calm with the exception of Donbas, where high tensions persist.

The situation in both the east and in some parts of southern Ukraine continued to be tense. Tensions in Luhansk remain. Central and western parts of the country remained calm.

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina welcomes today's release of the Gender Equality Pledge for Political Parties by the BiH Gender Equality Agency. The pledge will be open for all political parties in BiH to sign ahead of the 2014 general elections...

ISTANBUL, 9 May 2014 – OSCE Media Freedom Representative Dunja Mijatović today denounced once again the deteriorating media freedom situation in Ukraine, including new cases of kidnapping, attacks on and intimidation of journalists and attacks on the broadcasting infrastructure...

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors visited Bosnia and Herzegovina from 5 to 7 May 2014. She met key actors to gain a more comprehensive picture of the situation of persons belonging to national minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina...

BERN, 8 May 2014- The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, welcomed the appointment of Michael Georg Link of Germany as Director of the Organization's main human rights body, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)...

The situation in both the east and in some parts of southern Ukraine remained tense. Tensions in Luhansk remain. Central and western parts of the country remained calm...

ISTANBUL, 8 May 2014 – OSCE Media Freedom Representative Dunja Mijatović today welcomed the release of Turkish journalists Füsun Erdoğan and Bayram Namaz...