News and press releases

SEOUL/VIENNA, 15 October 2020 – New technologies need to be backed up with necessary human rights safeguards, furthering the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to security, say participants at the fourth inter-regional conference on the Impact of Emerging Technologies on International Security and Terrorism. Foreign Affairs Ministry of Korea, in co-operation with the OSCE Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) and the OSCE External Co-operation Section, organized the virtual conference on 14 October 2020...

KYIV, 15 October 2020 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Heidi Grau, made the following statement to the press after the regular meetings of the TCG and its Working Groups held through video conferencing:...

The first in a series of three OSCE-supported regional roundtable discussions on the country’s environmental challenges concluded on 15 October 2020 in Kostanay, Kazakhstan. The two-day event brought together some 25 representatives from the local authorities, the business community and environmental NGOs. The OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan, in partnership with the Association of Environmental Organizations, organized the event...

Efforts by OSCE participating States to address the risks posed by small arms and light weapons (SALW) and stockpiles of conventional ammunition (SCA), particularly in preventing and combating the illicit trade in SALW, were the focus of a meeting organized by the German Chair of the Forum for Security Co-operation on 13 and 14 October 2020...

Summary The SMM recorded no ceasefire violations in either Donetsk or Luhansk region. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 14 ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and one in Luhansk region. The Mission had previously recorded no ceasefire violations in either region between the evenings

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), the OSCE and UN Women joined forces to host an online event on 12 October 2020. Experts reviewed commitments and charted the way forward on this landmark resolution, the first international agreement recognizing that conflict affects women differently than men and calling for the meaningful participation of women in peace processes. A wide range of WPS practitioners from civil society and women’s organizations, government officials and representatives of international organizations participated in the event.

An OSCE-supported seminar on the protection of freedom of expression and the judicial regulation of defamation took place on 10 October 2020 in Nur-Sultan. The OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan co-organized the event with the Academy of Justice under the Supreme Court (Academy), NGO Legal Media Centre, Internews Kazakhstan and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Some 55 Master students of the Academy attended the seminar...