News and press releases

The High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Knut Vollebaek visited Belgrade, Bujanovac and Skopje from 19 to 23 March 2012...

ASTANA, 26 March 2012- A four-day training course for Kazakhstani government officials on international mechanisms and tools to combat money laundering and terrorism financing began in Astana today...

BISHKEK, 26 March 2012 – Twenty-four students from Central Asia and Afghanistan – enrolled in the OSCE Academy’s newly launched Masters programme in Economic Governance and Development – started today a one-week teaching module devoted to the OSCE’s work in the economic and environmental field...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 26 March 2012 – An OSCE-supported roundtable discussion on prospects for introducing plea bargaining into Kazakhstan’s planned Criminal Procedure Code was held in Almaty today...

ISTANBUL, 26 March 2012- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, underlined the crucial role independent regulatory authorities play in ensuring media pluralism at the opening of a master class on broadcast regulation in Central Asia and the South Caucasus in Istanbul today...

A four-day OSCE-supported workshop for officers from Serbia’s Interior Ministry and the Police Academy took place from 20 to 23 March 2012 in Belgrade...

A three-day simulation exercise on emergency management for representatives of municipal emergency headquarters from Nova Varos, Prijepolje and Priboj took place from 21 to 23 March 2012 in Zlatibor...

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) shared its trial-monitoring methodology with representatives of non-governmental organizations from the south of Kyrgyzstan, in two days of training organized in co-operation with the OSCE Centre in Bishkek and held in Osh on 23 and 24 March 2012...

MOSCOW/ WASHINGTON/ PARIS, 22 March 2012- The foreign minsters of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Foreign Minister of France Alain Juppé issued the following statement today...

YEREVAN, 22 March 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 Armenia on 6 May...

BISHKEK, 20 March 2012 – Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, the ODIHR Director, today condemned the attack that killed four people outside a Jewish school in Toulouse, France on Monday, and welcomed actions by the French authorities to investigate this and the shootings of French soldiers last week as anti-Semitic or racially motivated crimes...

MONACO, 20 March 2012 – The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, in her meeting with Prince Albert II today praised the support by the Principality of Monaco in the field of child protection and welcomed the continuation of such a project in Moldova...

ERGNETI, 20 March 2012- The 21st meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) took place in Ergneti today. The meeting was co-facilitated by the EU Monitoring Mission and the OSCE...

SARAJEVO, 20 March 2012 – The OSCE Secretary General, Lamberto Zannier, today concluded his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he met the new state government to discuss their priorities in the light of the contribution offered by the OSCE Mission...

ASHGABAT, 20 March 2012 – An OSCE-supported training course on project management for more than thirty members of Turkmenistan civil society concluded in Ashgabat today...

COPENHAGEN, 16 March 2012 – OSCE PA President Petros Efthymiou today applauded the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova for electing a national president after a more than two and half year political stalemate in Chisinau...

BISHKEK, 20 March 2012– During a visit to Bishkek today on Tuesday, Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), encouraged Kyrgyzstan’s authorities to consolidate the country’s democratic achievements and further improve its framework for the holding of democratic elections...

A set of recommendations on how to ensure the language rights of the Gagauz minority of Moldova was presented on 29 March 2012 at an OSCE-hosted roundtable meeting in Chisinau...

COPENHAGEN, 16 March 2012 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Petros Efthymiou called today for authorities in Minsk to halt its use of the death penalty after reports that President Alexander Lukashenko has decided to go forward with the use of the death penalty in the cases of two men convicted for the April 2011 Minsk metro bombing...

TASHKENT, 16 March 2012 – Modernization of economic laws to deepen free market reforms and economic liberalization was discussed today in Tashkent at an OSCE-supported international roundtable meeting in the Uzbek Parliament...

The OSCE Mission supported the removal of radioactive industrial waste from an enterprise based in Rybnitsa on the left bank of Dniestr/Nistru to a safe storage facility outside Chişinău on 15 March 2012...

Police trainers in Ashgabat completed a three-day course on 15 March organized by the OSCE to help train future police officers in the protection of human rights while countering terrorism...

VIENNA, 15 March 2011- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, welcomed today the release from custody of Igor Vinyavsky, the Chief Editor of Kazakhstan’s Vzglyad newspaper...

The Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, Ambassador Andrey Sorokin, and Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Karen Andreasyan, launched today a European Union-funded project to enhance the capacities of the Human Rights Defender’s Office (HRDO) in advance of the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in 2012 and 2013...

KARAGANDA, Kazakhstan, 15 March 2012 – The OSCE Centre in Astana launched a series of regional training seminars today to help staff at orphanages and vocational schools prevent human trafficking...

VIENNA, 15 March 2012 – The Foreign Minister of Jordan, Nasser Judeh, highlighted the need to intensify co-operation and reform processes to address security threats in the Middle East in a speech to the OSCE Permanent Council today...

The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Maria Grazia Giammarinaro addressed the Government of Canada with recommendations aimed at advancing anti-trafficking action on 15 March 2012...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights provided support and expertise to a roundtable in Dushanbe on 14 March on measures to develop effective links between population and voter registration in Tajikistan, as well as on reforms to the country’s legal electoral framework...

The OSCE Mission to Moldova encourages students from Gagauzia and Transdniestria to apply before 6 April 2012 for scholarships to study at the Chişinău School of Advanced Journalism run by the Independent Journalism Centre...

SKOPJE, 13 March 2012 – The OSCE Secretary General, Lamberto Zannier, in Skopje today to meet government officials, condemned the recent series of violent incidents in the country and welcomed the authorities’ response...

Building the capacity of the territorial branches of Uzbekistan’s Inter-agency Anti-trafficking Commission to sustainably and systematically combat human trafficking and to improve co-ordination between the different actors is the focus of a two-day workshop that started at the General Prosecutor’s office in Tashkent on 12 March 2012...

A three-day workshop on assessing the risk of money laundering started in Bishkek on 13 March 2012. The event was organized by the OSCE, the World Bank and the UNODC in co-operation with Kyrgyzstan’s State Financial Intelligence Service...

VIENNA, 12 March 2012 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, today welcomed the release of four Turkish journalists from prison, including award-winning journalists Nedim Şener and Ahmet Şık...

VIENNA, 12 MARCH 2012 – Ways of empowering women in countering violent extremism and radicalization that leads to terrorism is the focus of a two-day expert meeting organized by the OSCE today in Vienna...

JALAL-ABAD, Kyrgyzstan, 10 March 2012 – More efficient use of water resources and resolving potential disputes over water were the focus of a training seminar that took place today in Jalal-Abad, southern Kyrgyzstan, with the support of the OSCE Osh field office...

The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, addressed the roundtable meeting "Trafficking in Women and Girls" on the occasion of International Women’s Day at UNESCO on 9 March 2012 in Paris...

Measures to increase the political representation of women in Northern Ireland were highlighted at a conference organized in Belfast on 9 March 2012 by the Centre for the Advancement of Women in Politics at Queen's University Belfast, and supported by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)...

COPENHAGEN, 9 March 2012 – Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore visited the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly International Secretariat today and expressed his support for parliamentarians being more closely involved in the comprehensive work of the OSCE...

SKOPJE, 9 March 2012- The Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, Ambassador Ralf Breth, condemned today recent violent incidents in Skopje and conveyed his sympathies to those who were injured and their families...

SKOPJE, 9 March 2012 – The role of women in conflict prevention and peaceful conflict resolution was the topic of an OSCE-supported public event that took place in Skopje today...

Women from the Roma and Sinti communities are particularly vulnerable regarding their access to health care and more should be done to address the multiple forms of discrimination against them, said the head of the OSCE Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues, Andrzej Mirga, on International Women’s Day on 8 March 2012...

VIENNA, 8 March 2012 – Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, today strongly condemned the attack on Olivera Lakić, a journalist with the daily newspaper Vijesti.

SARAJEVO, 8 March 2012 – On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina Fletcher M. Burton stressed today the need to step up efforts to promote rights of women and gender equality...

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, visiting Brussels on 6 and 7 March 2012, discussed with the European Commission President, José Manuel Durão Barroso, co-operation between the EU and the OSCE in addressing current and emerging security challenges in the OSCE region...

DUBLIN, 8 March 2012 – Promoting gender equality and ensuring women’s participation in political, public and economic spheres must be central to the work of the OSCE and all 56 participating States, said the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore today marking International Women’s Day...

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 7 March 2012 – A day ahead of the International Women’s Day, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo launched an information campaign urging the public to report cases of domestic violence, and publications to help the local institutions better assist victims of the crime...

VIENNA, 7 March 2012 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, appealed to the Government of Tajikistan today to reverse instructions to block the Facebook social media platform and four websites reporting on social and political affairs...

Norway’s internet voting project for the 12 September local government elections was conducted in an open manner, but the system could have benefited from more formalized procedures, says the final report of the ODIHR Election Expert Team...

Centralised data transfer system, measures to implement state labour oversight, control of technical security were discussed at the Inter-agency Inspection Reform Council held in Yerevan on 6 March 2012 with the OSCE Office’s participation...

BAKU, 6 March 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 March 2-6 to Yerevan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Baku.