News and press releases

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 29 May 2012 – Sixty policy and decision makers, legal and technical experts, and academia and non-governmental organizations representatives from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia are taking part in a workshop on groundwater management which started today in Almaty...

The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, emphasized the protection of human rights of trafficked persons at an event on 28 May 2012 in London jointly organized with the UK Home Office, and with the participation of Damian Green, UK Minister of State for Immigration...

An OSCE-supported seminar on countering violent extremism and radicalization that leads to terrorism took place in Bishkek on 28 and 29 May 2012...

VIENNA, 25 May 2012 – Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media today said that the new Hungarian media legislation can still curb media pluralism and put the media at the risk of political control...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 28 May 2012 – The OSCE Centre in Astana held the first in a series of regional training seminars to improve the identification of trafficking victims in Almaty today...

ERGNETI, 25 May 2012- The 23rd meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism, co-facilitated by the EU Monitoring Mission and the OSCE, took place in Ergneti...

A two-day workshop on precursors – chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of drugs- began on 28 May 2012 in Almaty. The event is a part of the OSCE Centre in Astana’s activities to support Kazakhstan’s efforts to prevent drug trafficking...

ASHGABAT, 25 May 2012 – Five senior officials from Turkmenistan’s law-enforcement bodies participated in an OSCE-organized working visit to Denmark and Norway on prison management that concluded in Oslo today...

The Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Ambassador Eugen Wollfarth, handed over the OSCE Presence-funded publication of the Civil Service Commission Annual Activity Report for 2011 to the Commission Chairperson, Fatmir Tafaj, on 25 May 2012...

Sixty community policing officers from 27 regional police directorates from Serbia completed an OSCE-supported two-day training course on action planning in Vrnjacka Banja on 25 May 2012...

A team of experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) visited the Czech Republic from 21 to 25 May 2012 to assess educational opportunities for Roma children in the country...

A new media room and renovated premises for the legal affairs committee were inaugurated in the Albanian Assembly on 23 May 2012 as part of a project implemented jointly by the OSCE Presence in Albania and the Albanian Assembly, co-funded by the OSCE Presence, the German Embassy, and the Assembly...

Combating hate-motivated crimes against people with disabilities by improving the monitoring and reporting of such incidents was the focus of a workshop in Dublin on 24 May 2012, organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the European Network of Independent Living (ENIL)...

WASHINGTON DC, 24 May 2012 – Keeping the Internet free should be high on the agenda of international and human rights policy, said the OSCE Representative on Freedom Media Dunja Mijatović today at a conference organized by Google at the Newseum in Washington DC...

ASTANA, 24 May 2012 – A two-day OSCE-supported training course for Kazakhstani prosecutors on protecting the rights of children in conflict with the law, child victims and witnesses of crimes within the juvenile justice system began today in Astana...

YEREVAN, 24 May 2012 – Global issues of cyber, and information and communication technology security are in the focus of a two-day workshop that started today in Yerevan with the support of the OSCE Office...

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 23 May 2012 – The Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Werner Almhofer, condemned today the arson that destroyed one Kosovo Serb’s house and seriously damaged another’s in Drenoc/Drenovac village in Klinë/Klina municipality last night.

VIENNA, 23 May 2012 – The 56 OSCE participating States and 12 Partners for Co-operation today concluded a review of the OSCE Plan of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons that aims to counter the spread and accumulation of illicit SALW...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 22 May 2012 – A two-day sub-regional conference on the implementation of the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Aarhus Convention) started today in Almaty...

ASTANA, 22 May 2012- State officials, national and international experts, representatives of the national human rights institutions, academia and civil society discussed measures to implement the recommendations of the UN in the human rights field during an OSCE-supported meeting held today in Astana...

SKOPJE, 22 May 2012 – Sharing best practices on how to better handle hate crime and hate speech cases is the aim of an OSCE-supported regional conference that started in Skopje today...

BELGRADE, 21 May 2012 – The second round of Serbia’s early presidential elections on 20 May 2012 maintained the open, highly competitive character of the first round, but provided further indications that efforts are needed to enhance the integrity of the electoral process, international observers said in a statement today...

BISHKEK, 21 May 2012 – The top 11 graduates of the OSCE Academy’s Masters in Politics and Security programme departed today for internships with academic institutions and international organizations in Europe...

The OSCE Mission to Skopje is supporting the Ministry of Interior in strengthening its decentralized training system, through a jointly-organized roundtable discussion on a newly-adopted training strategy for Ministry employees...

DUBLIN / VIENNA, 21 May 2012 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore, today welcomed the peaceful and orderly voting in Kosovo for the second round of the Serbian presidential election of 20 May...

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 20 May 2012 – All OSCE-run polling stations in Kosovo closed today after the orderly completion of voting, according to the Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Werner Almhofer. The reported provisional turnout was 23.58 per cent...

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 20 May 2012 – Voter turnout in the second round of the balloting facilitation in Kosovo was reported at approximately 11 per cent by 14:00 hrs today by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo...

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 20 May 2012 – All 90 polling stations in the OSCE-run balloting facilitation in Kosovo were open today by 07.15 hrs...

VIENNA, 18 May 2012 – Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, today condemned the attack on journalist Dan Buruca and called on the Romanian authorities to carry out a thorough and quick investigation...

HAIFA, Israel, 20 May 2012 – Speaking today at an international workshop on human trafficking in Israel, the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, underlined that victims of trafficking are subjected to multiple violations of human rights...

Georgian law enforcement officers completed a three-day training course on 18 May 2012, organized by ODIHR and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, on the protection of human rights while countering terrorism...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 18 May 2012 – A two-day regional forum on the Internet in Central Asia, co-organized by the OSCE Centre in Astana, began in Almaty today...

DUSHANBE, 18 May 2012 – A three-day OSCE workshop on the detection and identification of forged documents for Border Troops and Customs Services from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan concluded in Dushanbe today...

New challenges in the regulation of political parties were the focus of the annual meeting of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Core Group of Experts on Political Parties, held in Warsaw on 17 May 2012...

ASTANA, 17 May 2012 – A roundtable meeting co-organized by the OSCE Centre in Astana to discuss issues of preventing and combating trafficking and violence against children took place in Astana today...

TASHKENT, 16 May 2012 – A three-day training course for staff of press and information services of civil society organizations started in Tashkent today...

VIENNA, 17 May 2012- Ambassador Valeri Chechelashvili, the Secretary General of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development (GUAM), outlined the current priorities of his organization in an address to the OSCE Permanent Council...

The OSCE Mission to Moldova hosted a seminar in Bender on peacekeeping operations on 15 May 2012...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented, from 14 to 16 May 2012 in Helsinki, the final report of the Election Assessment Mission to the 17 April 2011 parliamentary elections in Finland...

ASTANA, 16 May 2012- Miroslava Beham, OSCE Senior Adviser on Gender Issues, started today her visit to Kazakhstan during which she will discuss gender issues and exchange experiences with Kazakhstani officials, civil society, academics and journalists...

The need for more women leaders and a stronger political commitment by states to combat trafficking in human beings was highlighted at an OSCE event “Political leadership: Who can speak for the victims of trafficking?”, held on 15 May 2012...

Arrival information cards produced by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU) in co-operation with the country’s Ministry of Interior and State Border Guard Service will be distributed ahead of and during the European football championship co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland in June 2012...

WARSAW, 14 May 2012- The rule of law needs to be strengthened in the fight against human trafficking in order to better protect victims' human rights and ensure them access to justice, participants said today at the opening of an OSCE meeting on the topic...

Nina Suomalainen from Finland has taken up her duties as the Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo on 14 May 2012...

VIENNA, 14 May 2012 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, welcomed today the Netherlands’ passing of a net neutrality law, making it the first OSCE country to do so...

ASTANA, 14 May 2012 – Facilitating cross-border trade and transport operations within the Customs Union comprised of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia is the subject of a regional seminar that started in Astana today.юю

DUSHANBE, 14 May 2012- A seminar on managing, resolving and preventing conflicts at borders for senior border officials and researchers from Central Asia, Western and Eastern Europe and North America started at the OSCE Border Management Staff College (BMSC) in Dushanbe today...

BAKU, 14 May 2012- The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Robert Bradtke of the United States, Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, and Jacques Faure of France) and Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk (Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office) traveled May 11-14 to Yerevan and Baku, where they met with Presidents Sargsian and Aliyev to discuss the most recent efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict...

BISHKEK, 14 May 2012 – Requiring public officials to declare their assets as a way of increasing transparency and trust in public administration and preventing conflicts of interest and corruption is the theme of a two-day OSCE expert seminar that started today in Bishkek...

BATUMI, Georgia, 12 May 2012 – Regional co-operation on economic development is not only sound fiscal policy but key to peace and security, parliamentary and government leaders said today at the opening of a major economic conference in Georgia...