News and press releases

CRIMEA, Ukraine, 20 July 2013 – The OSCE Youth Summit, organized by the Ukrainian OSCE Chairmanship, started today in the International Children’s Center “Artek” in Crimea, bringing together more than 500 young people from across the OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation...

VIENNA, 19 July 2013 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, welcomed today’s decision by a court in Minsk to lift the restrictions imposed on Belarusian journalist, Irina Khalip...

ROME, 19 July 2013-- The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, today highlighted the innovative aspects of the Italian model of anti-trafficking action at the conclusion of her country visit to Italy, praising efforts to assist victims in partnership with civil society...

VIENNA, 19 July 2013 – The prison sentence meted out to journalist Ahmet Altan for insulting Prime Minister Erdoğan in one of his articles will further restrict free speech in Turkey, Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, said today...

Recommendations from the final report on last year’s general elections in the United States were presented by a team from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) at the Carter Center in Atlanta and the summer conference of the National Association of Secretaries of State in Anchorage between 17 and 19 July 2013...

An ecological summer camp organized by the OSCE for the children of officers from the state border services of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan took place on 20 July 2013 in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan...

An OSCE-supported anti-terrorism military exercise to simulate how Kyrgyzstan’s government would respond to a possible cross-border incursion and hostage situation took place in the country’s Chon-Alay district, Osh province on 19 July 2013...

BISHKEK, 19 July 2013 – The planned opening of Kyrgyzstan’s second Aarhus Centre and details to its future activities were discussed at an OSCE-supported roundtable meeting in Bishkek today...

WARSAW, 18 July 2013 Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), expressed concern today over recent extremist demonstrations and attempted attacks on Roma residents in České Budějovice and Duchcov in the Czech Republic...

COPENHAGEN, 18 July 2013-- Isabel Santos (Portugal), chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, today released the following statement regarding a Russian court's verdict in the case of Alexey Navalny and Pyotr Ofitserov:

The explosion of a cluster bomb on 12 July 2013 at a demolition range in Georgia marked the end of a two-year project by the OSCE and the United Nations Development Programme to help the country destroy 1,289 pieces of aircraft ammunition and 19 missiles...

The Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Dmitry Mezentsev, addressed the OSCE Permanent Council on 18 July 2013...

TIRANA, 17 July 2013 – Ambassador Florian Raunig of Austria has been appointed as the new Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, the Ukrainian OSCE Chairmanship announced today. He will assume his duties on 1 October 2013...

YEREVAN, 15 July 2013 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, on a visit in Armenia discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and other OSCE-related issues with the Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and the President of the National Assembly (Parliament), Hovik Abrahamyan...

VIENNA, 17 July 2013 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, today welcomed the UN Security Council’s initiative to enhance the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1738, strengthening the safety of journalists...

More than 25 civil society representatives from south-eastern Europe met on 15 and 16 July 2013 at an OSCE conference in Prishtinë/ Priština to exchange best practices on municipal oversight and participation in local decision-making...

VIENNA, 17 July 2013 – The latest round of 5+2 talks in the Transdniestrian settlement process, chaired by the OSCE Chairperson’s Special Representative for conflicts Ambassador Andrii Deshchytsia, concluded in Vienna today...

KYIV, 17 July 2013- The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, welcomed the appointment of Finnish politician Astrid Thors as OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. Thors has been a Member of the Parliament of Finland since 2004. She has also served as a Minister of Migration and European Affairs of Finland and was a Member of the European Parliament. Her appointment as OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities was a consensus decision of all 57 OSCE participating States...

KYIV, 17 July 2013- The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, in co-operation with the Central Election Commission (CEC), presented a recently developed online training system for election commissioners at an event in Kyiv today...

Measures to increase transparency and public participation in the lawmaking process were the focus of a workshop organised by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Parliament of Georgia in Tbilisi on 16 July 2013...

On 15 July 2013 the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan hosted the concluding session of the Youth Model Parliament, an OSCE–supported project...

An OSCE-supported summer school held from 4 to 14 July 2013 brought together 80 young people from both banks of the Dniester/Nistru River in a beach town of Molovata Noua...

PODGORICA, Montenegro, 16 July 2013- OSCE PA President Ranko Krivokapic met the State minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Georgia Alexi Petriashvili today in Podgorica.

The importance of a credible code of conduct for parliamentarians as a tool for building trust in democracy was highlighted by Georgian members of parliament and civil society at a conference organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Parliament of Georgia in Tbilisi on 15 July 2013...

BELGRADE, Serbia, 13 July 2013 – OSCE PA President Ranko Krivokapić spoke Thursday at a special sitting of the Serbian Parliament called in his honour by Speaker Nebojša Stefanović and hailed parliamentary support for OSCE field work at a visit Friday to the OSCE Mission in Serbia.

VIENNA, 13 July 2013- The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Jacques Faure of France, and Ian Kelly of the United States of America) and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, conducted a series of meetings in June and July to further develop ideas for a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict...

VIENNA, 12 July 2013 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, today welcomed the decision by Ukraine’s parliamentary assembly, the Verkhovna Rada, to adopt in its first reading the law on public television and radio...

BISHKEK, 12 July 2013 – A week-long needs assessment to identify top priorities for increasing the investigative and legal capacity of Kyrgyzstan’s State Financial Intelligence Service to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, organized with support of the OSCE, ended today in Bishkek...

BOROVOYE, KAZAKHSTAN, 12 July 2013 – Some 50 officials from Kazakhstan’s central government agencies and local executive authorities responsible for gender equality issues are taking part in an international two-day training seminar on gender mainstreaming, women and security that began today in Borovoye, northern Kazakhstan...

VIENNA, 11 July 2013 – Governments should take steps to further strengthen the rule of law to better protect human rights, participants said today at the opening of the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting in Vienna...

The importance of fundraising – and access to sources of foreign funding, in particular – to allowing NGOs to freely conduct their activities was highlighted in a meeting organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Vienna on 11 July 2013...

Strategies to improve the internal democratic functioning of political parties were highlighted at an expert seminar organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw on 10 and 11 July 2013...

A two-day seminar on delimitation and demarcation in Central Asia was organized by the OSCE in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan on 4 and 5 July...

VIENNA, 10 July 2013 – The OSCE media freedom representative, Dunja Mijatović, today discussed the draft Law on Media and Audiovisual Services with the Minister of Information Society and Administration, Ivo Ivanovski who arrived in Vienna from Skopje today...

KYZYLORDA, Kazakhstan, 10 July 2013 – An international conference on best practices in integrated water resource management as part of the Kazakhstan’s national strategy on the transition to a green economy began in Kyzylorda today...

DUSHANBE, 10 July 2013 – Fourteen senior and mid-level customs officers from Afghanistan and Tajikistan successfully completed a week-long training course on international airport customs procedures at the OSCE Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe today...

BAKU, 8 July 2013 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara today discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and other OSCE-related issues with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Chairman of the Milli Mejlis (Parliament) Ogtay Asadov...

VIENNA, 9 July 2013 – A research paper on trafficking for the purpose of organ removal – one of the least addressed forms of trafficking in human beings – was published today by the OSCE...

The parliamentary by-elections held in Georgia on 27 April 2013 were competitive and candidates were able to campaign freely, but aspects of the legal framework could benefit from further review, concludes the final report by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) released on 9 July 2013...

Strategies for integrating a gender-sensitive approach into labour migration policies in accordance with OSCE commitments and international standards were the focus of a training session organized by the OSCE in Warsaw on 8 and 9 July 2013 for representatives of governments and civil society and field mission staff...

VIENNA, 9 July 2013- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, today condemned the murder of the journalist Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev in Russia’s republic of Dagestan...

CHISINAU, 10 July 2013 – Developing a climate-change adaptation strategy for the Dniester/Nistru basin and a joint response action plan for governments of Moldova and Ukraine are the focus of a new joint three-year project officially launched today at an event in Chisinau...

Municipal elections in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia were efficiently administered, but further efforts are required to address gaps and ambiguities in the electoral code and improve confidence in the voter lists, concludes the final report by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)...

VIENNA, 8 July 2013 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, today expressed concern over the latest case of intimidation of journalists by parliamentarian and Ataka Party leader Volen Siderov, and asked the authorities to ensure that the media can work freely in Bulgaria...

Eighteen women, members of the Serbian women’s parliamentary network and of the Assembly of Kosovo women’s caucus, as well as female representatives of other decision-making institutions and women leaders from academia, civil society and media came together in an OSCE-facilitated meeting in Budva, Montenegro, to exchange experiences and identify joint initiatives to foster women’s empowerment in all sectors of society.

Thanks to organizational and financial support from the OSCE Mission to Serbia, and in co-operation with the Vojvodina Environmental Movement, 16 youth leaders from high schools through southwest Serbia were able to take part in an educational camp on energy security and environmental democracy in the town of Sremski Karlovci 22-30 June...

Education is crucial in countering intolerance and negative stereotyping of Muslims, participants concluded at a meeting in Strasbourg on 5 July 2013 that was attended by more than 30 experts on education and officials from across the OSCE region...

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro presented its 2012 annual report on fulfillment of good governance principles in local municipalities in Montenegro on 5 June 2013 in Podgorica...

From 10 June to 6 July 2013, 72 Kyrgyz prison officials participated in a series of coaching classes in Bishkek that covered such issues as dog training, first aid and fire prevention...

ASHGABAT, 4 July 2013 – An article-by-article commentary on the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan was presented at an OSCE-organized roundtable in Ashgabat today...