News and press releases

BAKU, 26 April 2012 – A workshop organized by the OSCE Office in Baku and the Ombudsman Office of Azerbaijan on detention monitoring and reporting on cases of torture under national preventive mechanisms (NPMs) started today...

YEREVAN, 25 April 2012 – The Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, Ambassador Andrey Sorokin, and the Head of the Armenian Central Electoral Commission (CEC), Tigran Mukuchyan, signed a long-term co-operation agreement today on promoting efficient election administration, including through an EU-funded project on supporting democratic elections in Armenia, as well as other international election-related efforts...

TASHKENT, 25 April 2012 – A three-day training seminar organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan on the criminal justice response to domestic violence began in Tashkent today...

DUBLIN, BRUSSELS, GENEVA, 25 April 2012 – The Co-Chairs of the Geneva International Discussions note with concern that the 36th meeting of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) did not take place in Gali on 24 April 2012...

The OSCE Mission to Skopje, in co-operation with the Intelligence Academy of the Turkish National Police are organizing training for 18 police officers from the Administration for Security and Counterintelligence of the country’s Interior Ministry from 23-27 April 2012...

A support and assistance centre for victims of domestic violence opened in Ashgabat in April 2012 with support from the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat...

ASHGABAT, 23 April 2012 – The OSCE Centre in Ashgabat presented an article-by-article commentary on the Criminal Procedure Code of Turkmenistan in Ashgabat today...

COPENHAGEN, 23 April 2012 – Citizens and leaders should denounce the rise in extremist political parties in the wake of recent physical attacks in Athens, leaders of the 56-country Organization for Security and Co-operation Parliamentary Assembly said today...

AKTAU, Kazakhstan, 23 April 2012- The Head of the OSCE Centre in Astana Ambassador Natalia Zarudna, in Aktau on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea coast today, met with local authorities and civil society representatives and opened a workshop on preventing human trafficking among vulnerable groups in Kazakhstan’s regions...

DUBLIN, 23 April 2012 – Participants at an OSCE meeting in Dublin today called on governments in the 56 OSCE countries to strengthen their efforts to combat corruption and ensure greater transparency in their states...

LVIV, Ukraine, 23 April 2012 – Law enforcement efforts in combating gender-based violence is the topic of a roundtable discussion jointly organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU) and the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior that started today in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv...

BISHKEK, 23 April 2012 – An OSCE-supported seminar to assist the Kyrgyz authorities in improving national legislation on combating terrorism was held in Bishkek today...

The OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier will pay visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 23 to 24 April 2012 on the occasion of the International Donors' Conference "Durable solutions for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons" taking place on April 24 in Sarajevo...

An OSCE-initiated discussion on the topic “Women in Sport – Towards Enhancing Equality” aimed at raising awareness on challenges that exist for women in sports and highlighting the commitment of the OSCE to promote gender equality, took place in Vienna on 20 April 2012...

The first of four training courses on using the Internet and new media tools for Kazakh-language journalists began on 20 April, 2012 in Shymkent in southern Kazakhstan...

VIENNA, 20 April 2012-- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, expressed her concern over the brutal attack on Lukpan Akhmedyarov, a journalist with Kazakhstan’s Uralskaya Nedelya newspaper, and asked the authorities to promptly investigate the attack...

VIENNA, 19 April 2011 – Sport can play an important role in combating racism, intolerance and discrimination, but also present challenges in the areas of equality and fairness, participants said today at the opening of a two-day OSCE meeting in Vienna...

The Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Ambassador Eugen Wollfarth, and Defence Minister Arben Imami signed an agreement on 16 April 2012 for the disposal of more than 80 tonnes of hazardous chemical products...

DUSHANBE, 19 April 2012- As part of a humanitarian de-mining project supported by the OSCE, a mechanical de-mining machine was handed over to the Tajikistan’s Ministry of Defence today at a ceremony in the Engineering Battalion base in Rudaki District, close to Dushanbe...

VIENNA, 19 April 2012 – In its human dimension work, the OSCE must focus on areas where it can bring added value, and pay special attention to protecting rights of national minorities, freedom of movement, combating trafficking and developing single rules of election monitoring, said Ambassador Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry Commissioner on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law in his address to the OSCE Permanent Council today...

The OSCE Academy in Bishkek has since 2002 worked to promote the OSCE agenda of regional co-operation in Central Asia, said the Academy’s Director, Maxim Ryabkov, in his address to the OSCE Permanent Council on 19 April 2012...

DUBLIN, 19 April 2012 – Good governance and fighting corruption is the theme of a two-day OSCE meeting that opens in Dublin on Monday 23 April 2012...

National security concerns should not lead to online censorship, stressed Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, on 19 April 2012 at the Stockholm Internet Forum...

The importance of a credible code of ethics for parliamentarians in building trust in democracy was highlighted at a conference held in Tbilisi by the Parliament of Georgia and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 19 April 2012...

DUBLIN, 18 April 2012 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore, welcomed today’s announcement of a breakthrough reached in the OSCE-led negotiations towards a Transdniestrian settlement...

ST PETERSBURG, Russia 18 April 2012 – The role of parliamentarians in combating and preventing human trafficking at the national and international level was the focus of a roundtable discussion in St. Petersburg today...

VIENNA, 18 April 2012- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, condemned today the attack on Idrak Abbasov and other Azerbaijani journalists and urged the authorities to bring those responsible to justice...

SKOPJE, 18 April 2012 – The heads of mission of the European Union, NATO, OSCE, and U.S. issued the following statement today...

YEREVAN, 18 April 2012 – An OSCE-supported guidebook summarizing the platforms, activities and goals of political parties running for 6 May parliamentary elections in Armenia was presented today in Yerevan...

VIENNA, 18 April 2012 – Ambassador Erwan Fouéré, the Special Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian settlement process, welcomed today’s agreement on the principles and procedures for the conduct of formal negotiations as well as the agenda for the process...

SKOPJE, 18 April 2012 – Facilitating timely and accurate dissemination of public information and raising awareness among citizens of the work of local authorities is the aim of an OSCE-supported project for civil servants in multiethnic municipalities launched in Skopje today...

VIENNA, 17 April 2012 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, welcomed today’s Presidential decree to establish a national public service broadcaster in Russia...

Participants of the 10th Conference of the Central Asia Border Security Initiative (CABSI) held in Vienna adopted a Ministerial Declaration on 17 April 2012...

The OSCE Office in Tajikistan helped organize a training course on negotiating with terrorists for the release of hostages, for special forces staff of the Interior Ministry from 4 to 12 April 2012...

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek visited Uzbekistan on 11 and 12 April 2012...

Strategies to raise women’s participation in Polish political life were the focus of a conference organized in Warsaw on 17 April 2012 by the Polish Institute of Public Affairs, and supported by ODIHR and the British Embassy...

MINGACHEVIR, Azerbaijan, 17 April 2012 – A legal advice centre for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) supported by the OSCE Office in Baku opened today in Mingachevir, the fourth biggest city in Azerbaijan...

VIENNA, 16 April 2012 – Participants of a ministerial-level, OSCE-supported meeting of the Central Asia Border Security Initiative (CABSI) that started in Vienna today, stressed the need to join efforts to counter transnational threats while ensuring open and secure borders in the region...

BAKU, 16 April 2012 – Today the OSCE Office in Baku starts a two-week training course for Azerbaijani police and internal troops on public assembly management...

DUBLIN, 15 April 2012 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore, today said he was relieved that Belarusian opposition leader Andrei Sannikov has been released from custody under a presidential amnesty and called on President Aleksandr Lukashenko to free all remaining jailed opponents...

DUBLIN, 13 April 2012 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore, today expressed his condolences to the families of five ethnic Macedonians murdered last night in a village near Skopje...

Prishtinë/Priština, 13 April 2012 – The Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Werner Almhofer, welcomed today the promulgation of the new law on public broadcaster Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK)...

YEREVAN, 13 April 2012 –– The role and responsibilities of the police during the elections, including co-operation with electoral commissions, political parties, observers, as well as interaction with citizens were discussed today at a roundtable meeting in Yerevan...

Legal mechanisms to promote media freedom through modern communication and multimedia technologies were discussed during an OSCE-organized meeting that concluded in Ashgabat on 12 April 2012...

A three-day workshop for 40 non-governmental organizations in Kosovo on overseeing financial activities of municipalities concluded in Mavrovo, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, on 7 April 2012...

SKOPJE, 12 April 2012 – Today the OSCE Mission to Skopje launched a package of two projects to train civil servants in law-drafting and improve the quality and inclusiveness of legislation...

ASTANA, 12 April 2012 – An OSCE-organized training seminar for judges on good practices in handling human trafficking cases began today in Astana...

VIENNA, 12 April 2012 – The OSCE, the Austrian Interior Ministry, the EU, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UNDP are holding a ministerial-level meeting of the Central Asia Border Security Initiative (CABSI) on 16 and 17 April...

The OSCE Border Management Staff College (BMSC) held a training course on implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1540 on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction from 3 to 6 April 2012 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan...

CHISINAU, 11 April 2012 – The new Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Ambassador Jennifer Brush, took up her position today in Chisinau...