News and press releases

VIENNA, 17 February 2014 – Prominent European officials are calling on governments at an international anti-trafficking conference in Vienna today to intensify the fight against modern-day slavery by taking specific steps to protect victims and prosecute the criminals who commit this terrible crime...

BERN, 16 February 2014- Didier Burkhalter, Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, today welcomed the move by opposition protesters to vacate the Kyiv City State Administration Building as another positive development towards de-escalating tensions in Ukraine...

VIENNA, 14 February 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about police obstruction of journalists’ activities while covering a public demonstration in Yerevan on 12 February...

VIENNA, 14 February 2014 – Some 270 parliamentarians from more than 50 OSCE participating states have held a spirited debate on the current situation in Ukraine to close the 13th Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly...

The OSCE Centre in Astana co-organized a study visit of representatives from Kazakhstan to Ljubljana from 11 to 12 February 2014 to learn about the Slovenian experience in implementing the National Preventive Mechanism against torture and ill-treatment (NPM)...

VIENNA, 14 February 2014- OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about the intimidation of a journalist by law enforcement officers in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina...

A team from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) met with electoral stakeholders in Tbilisi from 12 to 14 February 2014 to present the final report of its election observation mission for the 27 October 2013 presidential election in Georgia.

VIENNA, 14 February 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about proposed amendments to the Criminal Law of the Republic of Latvia that criminalize “the public denial or glorification of Soviet and Nazi actions against Latvia.”

VIENNA, 14 February 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ranko Krivokapic met on 13 February with members of Ukraine’s Delegation to the PA, including lawmakers from the Communist Party, Batkivshchyna, Party of Regions and UDAR, on the sidelines of the OSCE PA Winter Meeting. OSCE PA Secretary General Spencer Oliver also participated...

BAKU, 14 February 2014 – French diplomat Alexis Chahtahtinsky has been appointed OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Baku starting from 1 March 2014...

THE HAGUE, 14 February 2014 – OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Astrid Thors today launched a call for nominations for the Max van der Stoel Award, a 50,000 EUR prize recognizing extraordinary and outstanding achievements in improving the position of national minorities in OSCE participating States…

PODGORICA, 14 February 2014 – The Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, Janina Hrebickova, today strongly condemned the arson attack on a vehicle owned by the daily newspaper Vijesti, which was deliberately set on fire in the early hours of Thursday morning...

BELGRADE, 13 February 2014 – Participation of all citizens of Serbia in the electoral process is key to securing citizens’ rights, said Ambassador Peter Burkhard, Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, in the run-up to the 16 March early parliamentary elections in the country...

VIENNA, 13 February 2014 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions convened at the OSCE PA Winter Meeting today in Vienna to consider rule of law concerns and political prisoners in the OSCE region...

BELGRADE, 13 February 2014 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened a limited election observation mission to monitor the 16 March early parliamentary elections in Serbia...

VIENNA, 13 February 2014 – The 13th Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly began today in Vienna, with keynote speakers urging some 270 parliamentarians from 58 countries to action...

VIENNA, 13 February 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today condemned yet another attack on daily newspaper Vijesti in Montenegro...

SKOPJE, 12 February 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today stressed the need for an inclusive and effective implementation of recently adopted media laws and a functioning self-regulatory system as she ended a three-day visit to Skopje...

A plan prepared with the support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan to promote job creation and income generation in non-mining industry sectors of Syunik province was approved by the Armenian Government on 6 February 2014...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) trained Italian law-enforcement officers on addressing hate-motivated violence at six workshops held at the Carabinieri Senior Officers College and the National Police Senior Officers College in Rome on 10 and 11 February 2014.

CHISINAU, 11 February 2014 – A delegation of the Gagauzian People’s Assembly headed by Dmitry Konstatinov visited Chisinau today to meet with the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova Ambassador Jennifer Brush and other diplomatic missions to discuss the latest political developments in the autonomous territorial unit of Gagauzia, located in southern Moldova...

SARAJEVO, 11 February 2014- The protests of the past few days in Sarajevo, Tuzla, Mostar and other cities across Bosnia and Herzegovina have highlighted serious economic, social and political difficulties in the country, the Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH, Ambassador Fletcher M. Burton, said today...

COPENHAGEN, 10 February 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President and President of the Montenegrin Parliament Ranko Krivokapic today called for calm after several days of unrest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and urged the government to renew its efforts to tackle unemployment and corruption...

Senior staff from The OSCE and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) met today to discuss achievements to date under the 2013-2014 Joint Action Plan and future opportunities for co-operation between the two organizations.

An opening ceremony of a training-of-trainers course for six customs officers from Afghanistan took place on 10 February 2014 at the premises of the Kyrgyz Customs Training centre in Leninskoe village near Bishkek...

BISHKEK, 10 February 2014 – An OSCE-supported anti-corruption training course for Kyrgyz government officials in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, began today...

SKOPJE, 10 February 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today welcomed proposed amendments to Lithuanian Criminal Code and Code of Administrative Offences which would decriminalize most defamation offenses...

Twenty-four officers from Tajik law enforcement agencies completed OSCE crisis management training in Dushanbe on 7 February 2014. The event is part of a series of training courses aimed at capacity development of Tajik border related agencies within the Border Management Unit 2014 activities...

SOCHI, February 7, 2014 – Didier Burkhalter, Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, discussed with Viktor Yanukovych, President of Ukraine, the situation in the country and confirmed the readiness of the OSCE to assist Ukraine in the settlement of the crisis.

A delegation from the Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Modernization met elections experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw on 7 February 2014 to discuss the final report of the ODIHR Election Assessment Mission for last year’s parliamentary elections in Norway.

BISHKEK, 7 February 2014 – A Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of a centralized government crisis management centre in Kyrgyzstan was signed today between the Kyrgyz Government, the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, and the Democratic Control for Armed Forces (DCAF), an international foundation that contributes to enhancing security sector governance through security sector reform...

COPENHAGEN, 7 February 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Vice President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) today expressed concern over the exclusion of the independent "Dozhd" television channel from major cable and satellite operators in Russia and called on authorities to prioritize media plurality...

VIENNA, 7 February 2014 – The deportation of journalist Mahir Zeynalov for his critical writing is a further setback for the dire state of media freedom in Turkey, Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media said today.

Education representatives, practitioners and academia discussed current achievements and challenges in the area of inclusive education in vocational secondary schools at an OSCE-supported conference in Skopje on 6 February 2014.

YEREVAN, 6 February 2014- The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Jacques Faure of France, and James Warlick of the United States of America) and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, traveled to Baku and Yerevan February 4-5...

VIENNA, 5 February 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today condemned an attack by a police officer on RTV Slon cameraman Branislav Pavičić in Tuzla...

VIENNA, 5 February 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed her concern about the exclusion of the independent television station Dozhd by major cable and satellite operators...

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors expressed her ongoing support for multi-ethnic higher education in southern Serbia during a visit to the country from 28 to 31 January 2014...

DUSHANBE, 5 February 2014 – A new training season at the OSCE Border Management Staff College (BMSC) in Dushanbe kicked off today with an opening ceremony for the 10th Border Management Staff Course...

SKOPJE, 5 February 2014 – A new fund launched in Skopje today offers grants to municipalities, students, teachers, parents and schools for organizing activities that bring members of different communities together...

The 6 November presidential election in Tajikistan took place peacefully, but restrictive candidate registration requirements resulted in a lack of pluralism and genuine choice, says the final report from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The report recommends the legal framework be significantly improved to provide a sound basis for the conduct of democratic elections.

ASTANA, 4 February 2014 – An OSCE-supported training seminar to enhance the capacity of judges dealing with human trafficking cases by sharing good international practices began today in Astana...

MUNICH / BERN, February 1, 2014 – Didier Burkhalter, Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, met with Leonid Kozhara, acting Foreign Minister of Ukraine, to discuss ways the OSCE could assist Ukraine to overcome the crises.

MINSK, 31 January 2014 – More than 40 representatives of central and local government, civil society and academia highlighted the challenges and solutions for advancing the implementation of the Aarhus Convention in Belarus, at a three-day workshop co-organized by the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA), which ended today...

COPENHAGEN, 30 January 2014 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly today officially launched its Helsinki +40 Project, an initiative that will bring together security and human rights experts, politicians, academia, civil society and the public to evaluate the OSCE’s past and chart concrete lines of action for the future...

VIENNA, 31 January 2014- Amendments to Turkey’s Internet Law can further restrict free expression in the country, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović said today...

DUSHANBE, 31 January 2014 – Tajik border guard officers from the Main Directorate of Tajik Border Troops completed a two-week OSCE patrol winter course in Gissar today. The course was organized by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan...

An OSCE-supported professional training course for Kyrgyz prison controllers concluded on 31 January 2014 in Bishkek...

Problems in the formation of election commissions, the misuse of state resources to benefit some candidates, indications of vote-buying and a lack of transparency in the counting process were among the shortcomings observed during the 15 December 2013 repeat parliamentary elections in Ukraine...

VIENNA, 30 January 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about the disappearance of photojournalists Umida Akhmedova and Timur Karpov in Uzbekistan after they were detained by police in Tashkent...