News and press releases

COPENHAGEN, 5 January 2021 – Roberto Montella of Italy has begun a second five-year term as Secretary General of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, following his re-election by the Assembly’s Standing Committee at the 2019 Luxembourg Annual Session.

COPENHAGEN, 4 January 2021 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will deploy seven parliamentarians and staff from five countries to observe the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan this Sunday. The PA’s observer team will focus its efforts in the capital, Nur-Sultan, and will work closely with long-term observers deployed by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Altogether, the OSCE will have some 30 observers in the country.

COPENHAGEN, 31 December 2020 – As the 2020 OSCE Chairmanship comes to a close, the Chairperson-in-Office for the year, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, signed the Parliamentary Assembly’s “OSCE Call for Action.” In doing so, Rama joined his predecessors as well as other leaders of OSCE institutions, former Secretaries General and OSCE PA Presidents in calling for streamlining and refocusing OSCE activities to confront key challenges in fields where the Organization has deep expertise and a comparative advantage...

COPENHAGEN, 18 December 2020 – Marking International Migrants Day, Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Migration Margareta Cederfelt (Sweden) highlighted the contributions of migrants to society and recalled the difficulties that they face, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. She noted that COVID-19 travel restrictions, border closures and lockdowns have created new challenges for migrants while exacerbating their existing vulnerabilities.

COPENHAGEN, 16 December 2020 – Taking note of increasing violations of media freedoms in Belarus, the leadership of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee today called on authorities in Minsk to end prosecutions and harassment of media professionals for their journalistic activities...

COPENHAGEN, 14 December 2020 – Following the 31 October parliamentary elections and the new convocation of the Parliament of Georgia on 11 December, George Tsereteli stepped down as President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. As the most senior Vice-President of the Assembly, Peter Lord Bowness (United Kingdom) took over as President...

COPENHAGEN, 10 December 2020 – At the close of a year defined by a global pandemic that has killed more than 1.5 million people worldwide, devastated economies and uprooted daily life for billions, the leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights and humanitarian committee today called for ensuring that recovery efforts focus on protecting the most vulnerable. Prioritizing an inclusive approach to the COVID-19 recovery is vital to ensure greater enjoyment of human rights, particularly for those suffering from extreme poverty and food insecurity, the parliamentarians said in a joint statement...