News and press releases

CHISINAU, 30 January 2014 – The Special Representative of the Swiss OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian settlement process, Ambassador Radojko Bogojević, today concluded a four-day visit to the region, which included meetings with the political leadership in Chisinau and Tiraspol...

Unhindered access to people in need must be allowed to humanitarian organizations, so that they can deliver assistance in an impartial manner, Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told the OSCE Permanent Council on 30 January 2014...

Austria’s priorities as current Council of Europe Chair, and the organization’s co-operation with the OSCE in addressing security challenges were among key topics of Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz’s address to the OSCE Permanent Council on 30 January 2014...

Ambassador Sergey Kapinos, Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, and René Holenstein, Ambassador of Switzerland to the Kyrgyz Republic representing the Swiss Chairmanship-in-Office, presented priorities of their co-operation on 29 January 2014 in Bishkek...

BISHKEK, 29 January 2014 – A letter of intent to co-operate in organizing anti-terrorism training courses for Kyrgyzstan’s state government bodies was signed today between the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, Turkish National Police and the Anti-terrorism Centre under the State Committee of National Security (SCNS) of Kyrgyzstan...

BERN, 28 January 2014 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter welcomed today’s developments in Ukraine and appealed to all sides to remain engaged in political dialogue...

COPENHAGEN, 28 January 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ranko Krivokapic today welcomed the Ukrainian Parliament’s decision to scrap several troubling laws and praised the country’s efforts to resolve the current crisis through democratic channels.

The role of governments in promoting Holocaust remembrance and education was the focus of a roundtable discussion co-organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Chisinau on 28 January 2014, a day after the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

VIENNA, 28 January 2014- OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today welcomed the agreement between President Viktor Yanukovych and Ukrainian opposition leaders to repeal recent controversial legislation on public protests, including provisions limiting media freedom...

COPENHAGEN, 22 January 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ranko Krivokapic today issued the following statement on the situation in Ukraine:

COPENHAGEN, 22 January 2014 – A delegation of OSCE Parliamentarians has completed a study visit to Tajikistan that included meetings with President Emomali Rahmon, Foreign Minister Sirodjidin Aslov, lawmakers and representatives of civil society and the media.

MINSK, 28 January 2014 – Helping police to better respond to cases of domestic violence was the focus of a two-day OSCE regional workshop, which opened in Minsk today, for members of community police from Belarus and Moldova...

WARSAW, 27 January 2014 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, today met the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, to discuss the situation surrounding anti-government protests in Ukraine, the need for greater efforts to protect human rights defenders, and the Swiss Chairmanship’s priorities in the areas of human rights, democracy and the rule of law...

VIENNA, 27 January 2014 – Journalists should have been granted full access to report on the ball of academic associations in the Hofburg in Vienna last Friday, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović said today...

VIENNA, 27 January 2014 – OSCE media freedom representative Dunja Mijatović today condemned a recent physical attack on journalist Sinan Alić...

VIENNA, 27 January 2014 – The need for participating States to work together to better prepare for, and respond to natural disasters was highlighted at the First Preparatory Meeting of the 22nd OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum, which started today in Vienna...

WARSAW, 27 January 2014- Speaking on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, who is currently on a state visit to Poland, urged OSCE participating States to step up their efforts to combat anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance, and to raise awareness of the tragedy of the Holocaust, especially among young people.

PARIS, January 24, 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) met with the Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, and Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, to continue negotiations on the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, also participated in the meeting...

VIENNA / DAVOS, 24 January 2014- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter and Ukraine Prime Minister Mykola Azarov have today discussed ways the Organization could help to resolve the crisis in Ukraine...

VIENNA, 24 January 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed disappointment at the inability of the Georgian Parliament to select new board members for the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB)...

BERN / VIENNA, 22 January 2014 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter today expressed his deep concern about the situation in Ukraine, appealing to all parties to refrain from violence and engage in peaceful dialogue as a necessary first step towards resolving the ongoing crisis...

VIENNA, 22 January 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today called on the Ukrainian authorities to halt the violence against media and thoroughly investigate all incidents involving journalists...

ERGNETI, 21 January 2014 – Today the 41st meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) took place in Ergneti, co-facilitated by Toivo Klaar, the Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), and Ambassador Angelo Gnaedinger, who participated for the first time in his capacity of Special Representative of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship...

At an event in Podgorica on 27 December 2013, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro presented the report “Anti-corruption Mechanisms and Accountability of Police Officers in Montenegro”. The report was prepared under a project implemented with the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, an NGO. It concluded that while much has been achieved through new laws and by creating institutional mechanisms, tangible results in terms of the accountability of police officers are still pending...

COPENHAGEN, 20 January 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ranko Krivokapic (Montenegro) today urged calm and voiced his support for dialogue in Ukraine after violent clashes in Kyiv on 19 January...

VIENNA, 17 January 2014- Didier Burkhalter, Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, has expressed concern at recent legal measures taken in Ukraine which contain provisions which recriminalize libel and could impose serious restrictions on fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly...

VIENNA, 19 January 2014 – The masterminds behind the murder of prominent journalist Hrant Dink must be brought to justice, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media said today, on the seventh anniversary of the journalist’s shooting in Istanbul...

VIENNA, 17 January 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Vice-President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) expressed concern today over the adoption of legislation by the Parliament of Ukraine on 16 January that imposes new restrictions on street protests and recriminalizes defamation...

VIENNA, 16 January 2014- OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today said she was concerned about the adoption of legislative amendments in Ukraine, including re-criminalization of libel, that endanger free speech...

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 16 January 2014 – The head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Jean-Claude Schlumberger, condemned last night’s murder of Dimitrije Janićijević...

VIENNA, 16 January 2014 – Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter today pledged to seize the opportunities offered by the OSCE as he outlined priorities for the Swiss Chairmanship of the Organization at the first Permanent Council in Vienna...

BERN, 14 January 2014 – Today the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, received 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, in Bern...

BELGRADE, 14 January 2014 – While welcoming the efforts of Serbian authorities to complete the investigation in the case of murdered journalist Slavko Ćuruvija and to bring the perpetrators to justice, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Ambassador Peter Burkhard, urged respect for constitutional provisions and professional and ethical standards related to informing the public about police investigations and court proceedings...

VIENNA, 14 January 2014- OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today welcomed the arrests made in the case of the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija in 1999...

Georgia’s presidential election on 27 October 2013 was efficiently administered and transparent, and the electoral legal framework provided a sound basis for the conduct of democratic elections, says the final report by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). However, authorities should consider measures to further enhance electoral legislation and improve its implementation...

VIENNA, 14 January 2014 –OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today said that the hasty exclusion of three TV channels from several cable networks could hurt media pluralism in Moldova.

VIENNA, 10 January 2014 – OSCE Media Freedom Representative Dunja Mijatović today warned that blocking of video sharing website Vimeo’s services in Turkey further limits freedom of expression and free media...

WARSAW, 10 January 2014 – Ahead of tomorrow’s 12th anniversary of the arrival of the first detainees to the Guantanamo Detention Facility, Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), again urged the United States to close the facility.

COPENHAGEN, 10 January 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Secretary General Spencer Oliver met his counterparts from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Brussels on 9-10 January for discussions that focused on enhancing co-operation in the field of election observation.

VIENNA, 9 January 2014 – OSCE Media Freedom Representative Dunja Mijatović today expressed her concern over the sentence handed down to journalist Aksana Panova, founder and former chief editor of the Ura.ru and chief editor of Znak.com news agency in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Prishtinё/Priština, 8 January 2014 – The OSCE Mission today published its third report on the reintegration of persons repatriated to Kosovo.

DUSHANBE, 8 January 2014- The OSCE Office in Tajikistan today began overseeing the destruction of more than a thousand of small arms and light weapons units, including firearms collected from the local population and arms found in caches across various regions of Tajikistan.

The Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, Ambassador Janina Hrebickova, strongly condemned the violent physical assault on Friday evening against Lidija Nikcevic, a journalist of the Dan newspaper...

VIENNA, 6 January 2014- OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about yesterday's attack against journalist PeO Wärring, editor-in-chief of Swedish newspaper Eskilstuna-Kuriren...

VIENNA, 4 January 2014 – OSCE media freedom representative Dunja Mijatović today condemned last night’s physical attack on Dan newspaper journalist Lidija Nikčević and called on the authorities to finally end impunity for attacks against journalists...

BERN, 1 January 2014- Switzerland wants to make a tangible contribution to fostering security and stability, improving people’s lives and strengthening the OSCE’s capacity to act, new OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Switzerland’s Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, said today, as Switzerland assumed the rotating Chairmanship of the Organization for 2014...

As of 1 January 2014 the OSCE Office in Baku will transform into the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Baku. This is a result of a decision by the OSCE Permanent Council that brings together all 57 OSCE participating States...

At a ceremony on 26 December the 2013 Best Practices in Local Government in Montenegro Awards were held in Podgorica, organized by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, the Union of Municipalities and the Ministry of Interior...

The Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro Janina Hrebickova has condemned in the strongest terms the explosion at the offices of the “Vijesti” daily newspaper on December 26th and called for ongoing investigations into the incident to be pursued...

BAKU, 30 December 2013 – As part of its 2013 trial monitoring programme, the OSCE Office in Baku has today issued a report on domestic violence cases in the justice system of Azerbaijan...