News and press releases

BRUSSELS, 10 February 2012 – Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, met today with Neelie Kroes, the Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda for Europe, to discuss the state of media freedom across Europe...

DUBLIN, 10 February 2012 – Switzerland and Serbia will hold the OSCE Chairmanships in 2014 and 2015 respectively, the 56 OSCE participating States decided today...

YEREVAN, 10 February 2012 – Twenty-one awards in twelve categories recognizing the promotion of gender equality in the media were presented today to the winners of the Na/Ne (S/HE) annual competition...

NEW YORK, 9 February 2012 – Tackling transnational threats and fighting corruption are key areas for OSCE and UN co-operation, said the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Irish Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore, today at the UN Security Council in New York...

WASHINGTON DC, 8 February 2012 – Protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as making progress on resolving protracted conflicts are priorities of the 2012 Irish OSCE Chairmanship, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Irish Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore told the US Helsinki Commission in Washington DC today...

The OSCE Secretary General, Lamberto Zannier, met on 8 February 2012 in Vienna a high-level delegation from Thailand led by Her Royal Highness, Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, the Alternate Representative of Thailand to the United Nations...

The lawmaking process in Serbia can be strengthened through a more precise and effective delineation of its two stages – policy development and the drafting of legislation, and would benefit from more public consultation, says an OSCE/ODIHR assessment presented in Belgrade on 7 February 2012...

ASTANA, 7 February 2012 – A roundtable meeting held in Astana today reviewed the implementation of the parts of the country’s National Human Rights Action Plan for 2009-2012 devoted to improving the enforcement of the right to life and the rights of prisoners...

BAKU, 7 February 2012 – The OSCE Office in Baku today invited civil society organizations working on environment and security challenges to submit concept papers for the Civic Action for Security and Environment (CASE) small grants programme...

Slovenia’s early parliamentary polls in December showed that the legislative framework provided a sound basis for the conduct of democratic elections, although certain aspects could benefit from further review, the ODIHR final report says...

MOSCOW, 6 February 2012- The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Maria Grazia Giammarinaro met prominent Russian journalists in Moscow today to discuss the role of the media in the fight against human trafficking in the OSCE region. The meeting was organized by the Russian Union of Journalists in co-operation with the Office of the Special Representative...

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek addressed a conference on “R2P: The Next Decade”, which was held on 18 January 2012 to mark the tenth anniversary of the concept of the responsibility to protect...

VIENNA, 6 February 2012 – The OSCE’s practical contribution to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism, and defining a strategic way forward in this area are the focus of a meeting between representatives from 56 countries which started in Vienna today...

Croatia’s parliamentary elections on 4 December 2011 were pluralistic and administered transparently but further steps should be taken to improve the legal framework and the compilation of voter lists, concludes ODIHR's final report...

CHIŞINĂU, 3 February 2012- Ambassador Erwan Fouéré, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian settlement process, concluded meetings with the political leadership in Chişinău and Tiraspol today...

VIENNA, 2 February 2012 – The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, in today’s address to the OSCE Permanent Council emphasized the need for the Council or Europe, the OSCE and other international actors to further co-operate to counter negative developments in relation to human rights issues...

COPENHAGEN, 1 February 2012 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly human rights committee chair Matteo Mecacci (Italy) today welcomed the news that Kazakhstani authorities are set to release imprisoned human rights defender Yvgeny Zhovtis under a general amnesty later this month...

DUBLIN, 1 February 2012 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Petros Efthymiou expressed support today for the Irish Chairmanship agenda, including internet freedom and conflict resolution, during a meeting with Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore...

WARSAW, 1 February 2012 – Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), today welcomed the decision by a court in Ust-Kamenogorsk to release prominent human rights defender Yevgeniy Zhovtis, but expressed concern about the continuing clampdown on opposition activities in Kazakhstan in the wake of December’s violence in Zhanaozen and parliamentary elections held earlier this month...

The Serbian version of an OSCE manual on good practices in building trust and understanding between police and Roma and Sinti communities was launched on 1 February 2012 in Belgrade. It will be disseminated among staff of Serbian institutions, notably the Interior Ministry, to be used in their work...

SKOPJE, 1 February 2012 – Positive trends in decentralizing powers from central to local government have been observed over the past five years, but new challenges lie ahead, concludes an OSCE report on the decentralization process presented in Skopje today...

TASHKENT, 1 February 2012 – Combating the illicit traffic of drugs was the focus of an OSCE-organized workshop for regional experts from Uzbekistan’s National Information and Analytical Center on Drug Circulation held today in Tashkent...

KYIV, 31 January 2012 – The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU) today handed over IT equipment for 23 risk and criminal analysis units of the Ukraine's State Border Guard Service...

Switzerland’s elections to the Federal Assembly on 23 October 2011 demonstrated that Swiss democracy is deep-rooted and pluralistic but the decentralized system of government leads to some regional variations in electoral practice, concludes the final report of the OSCE/ODIHR election assessment mission...

STOCKHOLM, 31 January 2012 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Vice President Walburga Habsburg Douglas (Sweden) is hosting a delegation of parliamentarians this week from the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic on a study visit to the Swedish Riksdagen...

DUBLIN, 30 January 2011- The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro met the Irish Justice and Equality Minister Alan Shatter, today at the start of a four-day visit to Ireland...

Twenty years ago, on 30 January 1992, following its independence, Kyrgyzstan joined the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), which later became the OSCE...

COPENHAGEN, 30 January 2012 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Petros Efthymiou, a leading member of the Greek Parliament, will visit Dublin 1 February for meetings with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore to discuss Ireland’s priorities as chair of the world’s largest regional security organization...

JERUSALEM, 27 January 2012 – Speaking on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore, who is currently on a visit to the Middle East, emphasized the need to continue to fight hate and intolerance...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) released on 26 January 2012 a report summarizing the discussions and the recommendations agreed at the OSCE- Mediterranean Partner Countries' Civil Society Conference, held in Vilnius on 4-5 December 2011 ahead of the OSCE Ministerial Council...

VIENNA, 26 January 2012 – Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, today met Zoltan Kovacs, Hungarian Minister of State for Government Communication in Vienna, to discuss media reforms in Hungary...

BELGRADE, 26 January 2012 – Citizens’ views on Serbia’s police have been getting steadily more positive over the past four years, according to the results of a survey presented today in Belgrade by the OSCE Mission to Serbia and the Interior Ministry...

MOSCOW, 26 January 2012 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened its election observation mission to monitor the upcoming 4 March presidential election in the Russian Federation...

COPENHAGEN, 26 January 2012 – Matteo Mecacci, Chair of the OSCE PA human rights committee today called for respect of human rights and easing of conditions in Kyrgyzstan prisons after the government reported 80 per cent of the country’s prisoners are on a hunger strike...

VIENNA, 25 January 2011- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, condemned today as excessive a raid by law enforcement officers on Kazakhstan’s Vzglyad newspaper and urged the authorities to let independent media work freely...

DUBLIN, 24 January 2012 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore, expressed regret today that prominent Belarusian human rights defender Aliaksandr (Ales) Bialiatski was not freed on appeal...

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 24 January 2012 – Despite improvements resulting from judicial reform in Kosovo, a number of challenges still affect independent functioning of the justice system, concludes the report by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo presented today...

VIENNA, 24 January 2012 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, today called for governments to reassess protection of intellectual property rights online, emphasizing the potential threat to individual freedoms posed by expanding legal rights and technological restrictions...

YEREVAN, 24 January 2012 – The results of a study on access to education and vocational training for juveniles in custody were presented today in Yerevan...

SKOPJE, 24 January 2012 – Strengthening regional co-operation and dialogue for an effective response to human and child trafficking is the aim of an OSCE-supported regional workshop that started in Skopje today...

A regional workshop organized by the OSCE to help combat the trafficking of strategic dual-use commodities and conventional weapons, including small arms and light weapons, started in Valletta, Malta on 24 January 2012...

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier met the Secretary General of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Spencer Oliver, on 24 January 2012 in Copenhagen. The two discussed prospects for closer co-operation between the Assembly and the OSCE's executive structures, notably in enhancing the OSCE’s efforts to prevent and respond to emerging crisis situations...

SARAJEVO, 23 January 2012 – The Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Fletcher M. Burton, welcomed today the arrest of Radovan Stanković, a convicted war criminal and fugitive at large...

VIENNA, 23 January 2012- OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier met Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman in Vienna today to discuss Israel’s role as an OSCE Partner state, including concrete areas for co-operation...

COPENHAGEN, 20 January 2012 – The British government should report more frequently to Parliament on its activities within the OSCE, and the OSCE in Vienna should co-operate more fully with the Parliamentary Assembly, members of the British House of Lords said this week...

VIENNA 20 January 2012- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, condemned today the recent attacks on several members of the press during the continuing demonstrations in Bucharest and called on Romanian authorities to investigate thoroughly...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) will provide expertise to Albania’s Special Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reform, including through expert team visits to Tirana, in 2012...

Poland’s 9 October 2011 parliamentary elections were pluralistic and democratic, although late changes to electoral laws impacted on the stability of the legal framework, the final report released by ODIHR on 18 January 2012 concludes...

Following a visit to the United Kingdom last year, the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Maria Grazia Giammarinaro published recommendations to the government on improving anti-trafficking action and the protection of human rights of trafficked persons, together with the UK official response, on 18 January 2012...

VIENNA, 19 January 2012 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, said today on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the murder of prominent Turkish journalist Hrant Dink that OSCE participating States must do more to protect journalists and punish their assailants...