News and press releases

VIENNA, 9 October 2013 – Challenges to security and stability of Afghanistan, its neighbours and larger region after 2014, and how the international community, including the OSCE, can bolster support to the Afghanistan transition process, was the theme of today’s joint meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation and the Permanent Council in Vienna...

OSCE and UNDP signed a memorandum of understanding to increase their level of cooperation on the issues of security and cooperation

The OSCE Mission to Skopje and the French Embassy organized a study trip to Paris for officers of the Interior Ministry’s Special Units Department from 7 to 9 October 2013...

An OSCE regional training course on gender-sensitive labour migration policies concluded on 8 October 2013 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Government officials and civil society from five OSCE participating States – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – learned how to develop and implement labour migration policies that benefit both female and male migrant workers.

Water can become a potential source of conflict both within countries and between countries that depend on the same water sources and is now widely considered an essential element of national and regional security. Managing water resources to prevent conflicts, making full use of existing multilateral tools to maintain and enhance regional security, were key topics of OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier’s address to the Budapest Water Summit on 8 October 2013.

Ways to strengthen the role of regional organizations and arrangements, such as OSCE, in the broader UN framework of conflict prevention, peaceful settlement of disputes and mediation were key topics of a meeting between OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Budapest on 8 October 2013.

The Albanian version of a handbook of best practices at border crossings developed by the OSCE and the UN Economic Commission for Europe was presented on 4 October 2013 in Tirana.

The OSCE MenEngage Network held its second meeting on 7 October 2013 in Vienna, to continue its work on getting men involved as advocates for gender equality across the OSCE Region, gathering ambassadors, military advisers and other diplomats...

VIENNA, 7 October 2013 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today condemned the delivery of a parcel bomb to the Turin headquarters of the daily newspaper La Stampa...

Training for citizen journalists on human rights, social inclusion and advocacy tools was organized from 5 to 6 October 2013 in Tsaghkadzor in central Armenia by the Eurasia Partnership Foundation with the support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan...

Thirty-five volunteers from Kaptarkhana village in Batken province in south-west Kyrgyzstan, including staff of the Mayor’s office and the State Water Agency, and representatives of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) got together on 5 October 2013 to work on the facilities for taking the water from the river and channelling it to the newly constructed potable water pipeline...

The Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje and the Interior Minister officially launched on 7 October 2013 a Mission-supported project on the Regional Prevention Action Plan (RPAP) in Skopje. The project aims at supporting the police in designing prevention activities to address specific problems in local communities throughout the country...

VIENNA, 4 October 2013 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today condemned an attack on a group of journalists in Sabirabad region in central Azerbaijan and called on the authorities to carry out a swift investigation...

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina concluded on 3 October 2013 a two-day train-ing course for judges and prosecutors on the implementation of the Aarhus Convention – a key UN document on access to environmental information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters. Special focus during the course was on access to justice and related EU legislation...

DUSHANBE, 4 October 2013 – Twelve Tajik border troops guards and twelve Afghan border police officers graduated today from a three-week Patrol Management and Analysis Course...

A team from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) visited Skopje from 2 to 4 October 2013 to present the final report of the Election Observation Mission for the 24 March municipal elections...

BRUSSELS, 3 October 2013 – The latest round of 5+2 talks in the Transdniestrian settlement process, chaired by the OSCE Chair’s Special Representative for Conflicts Ambassador Andrii Deshchytsia, concluded today in Brussels with an extensive discussion on issues of freedom of movement...

A three-day seminar on countering violent extremism and terrorism began in Atyrau in Kazakhstan on 3 October 2013. The event was organized by the OSCE Centre in Astana in co-operation with the Prosecutor General’s Office Institute...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 3 October 2013 – More than 70 government officials, academics, diplomats and representatives of international and non-governmental organizations discussed how OSCE can contribute to the implementation of the concept of the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community at a conference in Almaty today...

COPENHAGEN, 3 October 2013 – Nearly 200 parliamentarians from 50 countries have registered for the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's 2013 Autumn Meeting, to be held in Budva, Montenegro, on 13-15 October, hosted by the Parliament of Montenegro.

TASHKENT, 3 October 2013 – An OSCE-organized regional workshop on best practices in promoting renewable energy started today in Tashkent. Officials and civil society representatives from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan shared their experiences and discussed their daily work with experts from Georgia, Norway, Spain and Sweden...

YEREVAN, 2 October 2013- The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Gender Issues, June Zeitlin, during her visit to Armenia concluding today discussed the implementation of Armenia’s commitments to promote gender equality, improve women’s political and public participation, and address domestic violence...

Some 25 high- and mid-level experts from the Interior Ministry, National Security Committee, Financial Police, Prosecutor General’s Office and Customs Control Committee of Kazakhstan are participating in a two-day national training seminar on preventing and combating corruption, taking place in Almaty from 3 to 4 October 2013...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented its 2013 background paper on the death penalty in the OSCE area at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw on 2 October 2013...

A new publication to aid legal professionals and civil society in trial monitoring was launched by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights (ODIHR) at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw on 2 October 2013...

Ethno-Jazz Festival is one of the largest annual cultural events in Moldova. In 2013, the geographic scope of the Festival was expanded to cover for the first time Tiraspol and Comrat where OSCE –supported jazz workshops and concerts took place on 27 and 28 September...

Improving the control of explosive substances to hinder access to them by terrorists was the topic of a roundtable discussion organized by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan on 1 October 2013...

DUSHANBE, 2 October 2013 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened an election observation mission to monitor the 6 November presidential election in Tajikistan...

The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, and a group of legal experts underscored the importance of protecting trafficking victims’ rights during a side event at the OSCE’s annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw on 30 September 2013...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 1 October 2013 – The OSCE Centre in Astana co-organized with the Ministry of Internal Affairs a four-day training seminar on the legislative framework to combat money laundering derived from drug trafficking which began today in Almaty...

From 18 to 20 September 2013, more than 180 journalists, representatives of civil society, government and academics, along with international experts, gathered in Tirana, Albania, to take part in the 3rd South East Europe Media Conference...

The OSCE Mission to Skopje today concluded a workshop for 15 public relations officers at the Interior Ministry that took place from 28 to 30 September 2013. The aim of the event was to help the police to more effectively provide information to the public in times of crisis...

OSCE Office in Yerevan in co-operation with the non-governmental organization Helsinki Committee of Armenia organized a workshop on principles of reporting about penal system, for journalists from 28 to 29 September 2013 in Tsaghkadzor...

A new handbook on observing the use of new technologies in elections, including electronic voting and automated counting, was launched by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw on 1 October 2013...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented a revised and expanded edition of its guidelines for reviewing electoral legislation, during the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw on 30 September 2013...

BELGRADE, 28 September 2013- The Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Peter Burkhard, made a statement today following yesterday’s decision by state authorities to cancel the 2013 Belgrade Pride March...

NEW YORK, 27 September 2013- 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, met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian in New York on September 27...

On 26 September 2013 the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, Vice-President and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, Tánaiste and Irish Foreign and Trade Minister Eamon Gilmore and Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic met in New York as the OSCE Troika plus Serbia. They discussed the recent developments in the OSCE area ahead of the OSCE Ministerial Council scheduled for 5-6 December 2013 in Kyiv...

VIENNA, 27 September 2013 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today called on the Russian authorities to release another journalist arrested while covering the Greenpeace action at Gazprom’s Prirazlomnaya platform...

WARSAW, 27 September 2013 – Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), expressed his disappointment today following notification from the Spanish authorities that monitors from the Office would not be welcome at an anti-monarchy demonstration in Madrid on Saturday...

VIENNA, 27 September 2013 –OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today called on the Azerbaijani authorities to stop prosecution of journalists following the handing down of a prison sentence to newspaper editor Hilal Mamedov...

VIENNA, 27 September 2013 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about recent suspensions of newspapers in Kazakhstan...

More than 100 experts, non-governmental activists and governmental officials gathered to exchange views on how to improve practical participation of civil society in governance, at an OSCE-supported international conference in village of Guta near Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine, on 27 September 2013...

The OSCE Presence in Albania experts for human rights participated in a forum on domestic violence for students of the European University of Tirana, on 26 September 2013...

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 27 September 2013 – Public and civil society organizations still face challenges in accessing official documents at the municipal level, concluded participants of an OSCE-supported workshop held today in Prishtinë/Priština on the occasion of the International Right to Know Day...

COPENHAGEN, 27 September 2013 – By the registration deadline of 24 September, 25 observers had signed up for the OSCE PA mission to the 9 October presidential election in Azerbaijan, including 16 MPs from 14 countries. President Ranko Krivokapic has appointed Vice-President Doris Barnett from Germany to head the OSCE PA delegation. The Chair of the First General Committee Makis Voridis (MP, Greece) will serve as Deputy Head of Delegation.

PAVLODAR, Northern Kazakhstan, 27 September 2013 – Some 100 participants took part in an OSCE-supported conference on green growth and Kazakhstan’s strategy of transition to the green economy which took place today in Pavlodar...

ASHGABAT, 27 September 2013 – Prison officials from across Turkmenistan discussed international legal standards for the treatment of prisoners at an OSCE-supported seminar that concluded in Ashgabat today...

As part of its investigative reporting skills training project for Azerbaijani journalists, the OSCE Office in Baku organized the third training course for journalists focusing on human trafficking and forced labour cases from 26 to 27 September 2013, in Guba city, north of Azerbaijan...

VIENNA, 26 September 2013 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about the arrest of photojournalist Denis Sinyakov in Russia and called for his release...