News and press releases

KYIV, 12 September 2012 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened an election observation mission for the 28 October 2012 parliamentary elections in Ukraine. The mission’s deployment follows an invitation from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry...

CHISINAU, 12 September 2012 – The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, opened today an anti-trafficking exhibition of photos by children from Moldovan residential schools...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) began two days of meetings in Astana on 11 September 2012 to present the final report of the Election Observation Mission to the 15 January early parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan...

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier started his official visit to Ukraine on 10 September 2012 with a meeting with Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko to discuss the preparations for the Ukrainian Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2013...

France’s parliamentary elections on 10 and 17 June were administered in an efficient and transparent manner and provided voters with a wide choice among diverse political options, concludes the OSCE/ODIHR's final report...

Representatives from OSCE field missions and NGOs shared experiences and exchanged good practices at the annual trial monitoring meeting held by ODIHR in Istanbul on 10 September 2012...

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 7 September 2012- The Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Werner Almhofer condemned today this morning’s attack on EULEX and Kosovo police vehicles in the village of Donje Verage/Varagë e Poshtme in northern Kosovo...

The Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Ambassador Eugen Wollfarth, paid a visit to the Zaharia prison in Kruja, on 7 September 2012, to assess the living conditions of the detained persons...

DUSHANBE, 7 September 2012 – Fifteen Afghan border police officers today completed a five-week Patrol Programming and Leadership Course organized by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan...

VIENNA, 6 September 2012 – An OSCE-organized roundtable discussion of ways to overcome existing barriers to the integration of migrant, minority and Roma and Sinti women into their communities and into the society as a whole started in Vienna today...

The important role of education in countering intolerance against Muslims was the theme of a meeting of representatives of education ministries and educational institutions organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Vienna on 6 September 2012...

VADUL LUI VODA, Moldova, 6 September 2012 – The OSCE Mission to Moldova, in co-operation with the Chisinau-based NGO IDIS Viitorul opened today a two-day summer school for journalists on public financing of political parties and the role of media in raising transparency in political funding, in Vadul Lui Voda. The summer school brings together journalists from the right and left banks of the Dniestr/Nistru River, and Moldova’s autonomous territory of Gagauzia...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 6 September 2012 – Economic and environmental issues and regional security was the topic of this year’s OSCE-supported Central Asian Youth Network (CAYN) meeting that concluded in Almaty today...

Integration of environmental education into the school curriculum in Ukraine is the focus of a three-day train-the-trainers course that started in Kyiv on 5 September 2012 with support from the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU)...

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier met with leaders and officials in Bucharest on 3 and 4 September 2012 to discuss the work of the OSCE, including resolving protracted conflicts, combating transnational threats and co-operating with other international organizations...

Increasing gender equality within political parties in Moldova was the focus of a roundtable discussion held in Chisinau by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Mission to Moldova on 4 September 2012...

KYIV, 4 September 2012 – Paintings by victims of domestic violence are on show at an exhibition that was opened in Kyiv today by Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU)...

VIENNA, 4 September 2012 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, said today that she was deeply concerned by the detentions and arrests of administrators of political social media groups in Belarus, which she described as a crackdown on online dissent...

PARIS, 3 September 2012- The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Robert Bradtke of the United States of America, Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, and Jacques Faure of France) and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, met on September 2 with the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, and on September 3 with the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, to address recent events in the region and efforts to peacefully resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict...

VIENNA, 3 September 2012- The need for greater exchange of expertise and international co-operation in identifying and seizing stolen assets was highlighted by participants at a three-day OSCE seminar that started today in Vienna...

The Head of the OSCE Centre in Astana, Ambassador Natalia Zarudna, attended a two-day high-level conference in Kazakhstan on “Constitution: the foundation of social and state modernization,” which was held on 30 and 31 August 2012 in Astana...

The OSCE Office in Yerevan’s Project Implementation Presence (PIP) will help Syunik region administration diversify the local economy and help mitigate the economic security risks of mining, starting in August 2012...

ASHGABAT, 31 August 2012 – Instructors from the Civil Service Academy under the President of Turkmenistan and law faculty of Magtymguly State University participated in an OSCE-organized training course on legislative drafting that concluded in Ashgabat today...

ASTANA, 29 August 2012 – The results of a project on identifying victims of trafficking and ways to improve current practice were the focus of an OSCE-supported roundtable meeting held in Astana today...

Students of the Central Asian School of Contemporary Journalism of the OSCE Academy and the Deutsche Welle Akademie, a summer school for young journalists, met Federal Minister for Economic Co-operation and Development of Germany Dirk Niebel in Bishkek on 26 August 2012...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 27 August 2012 – A two-day OSCE-supported conference on environmental security and protection initiated by the Ecological Forum of Non-governmental Organizations of Kazakhstan (EcoForum) concluded in Almaty today...

EDINBURGH, United Kingdom, 24 August 2012- The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, spoke today at the Festival of Politics highlighting the benefits of using photography, theatre and dance in campaigns to raise awareness about the growing problem of modern-day slavery.

MINSK, 22 August 2012 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened an election observation mission for the parliamentary elections to be held in Belarus on 23 September...

THE HAGUE, 22 August 2012 – OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek today asked the de-facto leadership of the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia to clarify a statement indicating that it plans to demolish ethnic-Georgian villages...

ASTANA, 22 August 2012 – Some 40 parliamentarians, government officials, and representatives of political parties, academia and civil society organizations discussed today at an OSCE-supported event how to improve the national population registration and management of internal migration in Kazakhstan...

TBILISI, 22 August 2012 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened an election observation mission for the parliamentary elections to be held in Georgia on 1 October...

VIENNA, 17 August 2012 – Responding to the verdict against the Russian punk band Pussy Riot today, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović warned of a dangerous tendency towards curbing freedom of expression...

Twenty-two secondary school teachers of social sciences from various Armenian regions are participating in a six-day training session in Tsaghkadzor in the Kotayk province of Armenia that concludes on 18 August 2012...

BISHKEK, 17 August 2012 – A one-month training course by the OSCE Centre for officers representing all of Kyrgyzstan’s correctional colonies and remand prisons concluded in Bishkek today...

TASHKENT, 16 August 2012 – Sixty-five young boys and girls will learn about the importance of taking care of the environment at an environmental summer camped opened by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan today...

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, 14 August 2012 – Some 40 representatives of state agencies and non-governmental organizations gathered at a roundtable meeting today to discuss the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of Kazakhstan on the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination...

VIENNA, 8 August 2012 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, today asked Belarusian authorities to drop charges against Anton Suryapin, who faces up to seven years in prison for uploading photos of teddy bears that had been released by plane into Belarus...

TASHKENT, 8 August 2012- A two-day OSCE-supported training seminar for police officers promoting awareness of the international human rights standards and role of the police in ensuring and protecting human rights opened in Tashkent today...

CHISINAU, 6 August 2012 – Having women in leadership positions is key to women’s empowerment and a precondition for any country’s prosperity, said the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Ambassador Jennifer Brush, today as she inaugurated the 2012 Summer School of Leadership for young women in Vadul Lui Voda...

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, presented on 3 August 2012 to the Moldovan government a legal analysis of the proposed plan to switch from analogue to digital broadcasting in Moldova...

An interactive information centre and a library established with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia opened in the Basic Police Training Centre in Sremska Kamenica on 3 August 2012...

VIENNA, 2 August 2012 – Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, today called upon Serbia’s president, Tomislav Nikolić, to pardon journalist Laszlo Szasz, following his imprisonment for insult...

The OSCE Mission to Moldova organized a training event on the European Court of Human Rights for 25 lawyers, civil society representatives and journalists from Transdniestria from 27 to 29 July 2012...

The final report by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on Serbia’s parliamentary and early presidential elections, held on 6 and 20 May 2012, concludes that they were characterized by a respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, and offers recommendations on enhancing the transparency of the election process...

ASTANA, 31 July 2012 – Two OSCE-supported training seminars aimed at enhancing knowledge and skills of police schools instructors on human rights-related matters ended today in Astana...

Thirty law school students selected through an open competition are taking part in a summer school supported by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU) that started on 29 July 2012 in Zakarpattia region...

VIENNA, 27 July 2012 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, called on the government of Tajikistan today to unblock video sharing website YouTube and ensure the free flow and access to information...

Greece’s early parliamentary elections on 6 May were administered efficiently and impartially in a competitive and open manner, despite tight deadlines and an adverse economic background, concludes the OSCE/ODIHR final report...

BISHKEK, 27 July 2012 – Exchanging expertise and enhancing co-operation and co-ordination on anti-terrorism issues was the topic of a two-day OSCE expert meeting that concluded today in Bishkek...

BELGRADE, 27 July 2012- The Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Ambassador Dimitrios Kypreos, welcomed today the formation of the Government in Serbia...