News and press releases

ASHGABAT, 3 November 2011 – International policy makers and experts on energy diplomacy will discuss energy markets and security at a two-day OSCE Chairmanship high-level conference on “Integrating Global Energy Markets – Providing Energy Security” that started today in Ashgabat...

YEREVAN, 3 November 2011 – Promoting good economic governance in Armenia through the rapid regulatory simplification mechanism, also known as a “regulatory guillotine”, is the aim of a project supported by the OSCE Office in Yerevan launched today in Yerevan...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 3 November 2011 – A three-day Central Asian Youth Network (CAYN) seminar began today in Almaty. The event brought together more than 50 university students from across Central Asia to discuss contemporary security issues as they relate to the region...

Money laundering is a direct threat to both national and international security and international co-operation is essential to combat it, participants heard during a two-day seminar in Tashkent that began on 3 November 2011...

SKOPJE, 3 November 2011 – Strengthening the human resources management of the Interior Ministry is the aim of an OSCE-supported seminar taking place today in the south-western town of Ohrid...

SKOPJE, 3 November 2011 – More than fifty representatives from the business community, schools, municipal administration and civil society from Skopje’s Ilinden municipality will participate in the drafting of a new strategy for local economic development through a project supported by the OSCE Mission to Skopje launched today...

VIENNA, 2 November 2011 – Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, condemned the petrol-bomb attack on the editorial offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris today...

BAKU, 3 November 2011 – The OSCE Office in Baku, the Emergency Situations Ministry of Azerbaijan and the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC) are co-hosting a two-day workshop on international compensation and liability regimes for oil spills incidents at sea that started in Baku today...

VILNIUS, 1 November 2011 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, welcomed today the release of Ilya Kazak who was sentenced for 14 years of imprisonment in Transdniestria on alleged espionage charges...

The OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier on a visit to Turkey on 31 October to 2 November, 2011, discussed Turkey’s engagement in the OSCE’s work and the country’s role in reaching out to the OSCE partners in Asia and the Mediterranean. He is also taking part in a high-level regional conference on Afghanistan...

CHISINAU, 1 November 2011 – The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, during her visit to Moldova today called on the country to continue improving measures to prevent human trafficking, including trafficking for labour exploitation, and protect victims' rights, including access to compensation and long-term support for the social inclusion of victims, especially child victims...

SARAJEVO, 1 November 2011 – Fletcher M. Burton, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) have announced today in Sarajevo the successful completion of the Rule 11bis Monitoring Project...

The June 12 parliamentary elections in Turkey demonstrated a broad commitment to holding democratic elections but the Constitution and implementing legislation continue to unduly limit freedom of expression, freedom of association and electoral rights, the final report released by ODIHR on 31 October concludes...

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU) launched an anti-trafficking awareness raising campaign ahead of the European Football Championship 2012 that Ukraine and Poland will host next summer...

YEREVAN, 1 November 2011 – A report on the findings from monitoring of court proceedings involving juveniles was presented and discussed in Yerevan today...

YEREVAN, 1 November 2011 –– Two OSCE-supported workshops for legal counsel and judges aimed to promote freedom of expression in Armenia started today in Yerevan...

SOFIA, 31 October 2011 – The second round of Bulgaria’s presidential and municipal elections was generally characterized by respect for fundamental freedoms but also underscored the need for further improving the electoral process, the observer mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) concluded in a statement issued today...

BELGRADE, 31 October 2011 – The War Crimes Justice Project (WCJP) delivered a new comprehensive curriculum to judicial and prosecutorial training institutions in Belgrade, Pristina, Sarajevo and Zagreb today...

BISHKEK, 31 October 2011- The presidential election in Kyrgyzstan was conducted in a peaceful manner, but shortcomings underscored that the integrity of the electoral process should be improved to consolidate democratic practice in line with international commitments, international observers concluded in a statement issued today...

VILNIUS, 28 October 2011- The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, today received a letter from Mongolia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Gombojav Zandanshatar, formally expressing Mongolia’s willingness to join the OSCE as a participating State...

The Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Edward Joseph, and the Assistant General Director of Operations of the Kosovo Police, Colonel Shefqet Beqaj, launched a traffic safety campaign for both drivers and pedestrians on 28 October 2011...

KHUJAND, Tajikistan, 28 October 2011 – Leaders of all six political parties represented in the Sughd region in northern Tajikistan met with 50 university students today as part of a five-day seminar on democratic processes organized by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan with the support of educational institutions and nongovernmental organizations in Khujand...

SARAJEVO, 28 October 2011 – The need to engage women in all phases of conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation was highlighted at the closing of a two-day conference held in Sarajevo...

BISHKEK, 28 October 2011 – Today the OSCE Centre in Bishkek presented to the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry Internal Troops two minivans to strengthen the operational security at Kambar-Ata 2 hydro-power station in the southern Kyrgyzstan...

BUJANOVAC, Serbia, 28 October 2011 – The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Knut Vollebaek and the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Dimitrios Kypreos, today attended the opening of the first multilingual and multi-ethnic university department in Bujanovac...

Representatives of political parties, government bodies and non-governmental organizations discussed ways to meet OSCE commitments to pluralism in the financing of political parties at a two-day conference co-organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems on 27 and 28 October 2011 in Chisinau...

VIENNA, 28 October, 2011 – OSCE participating States’ governments and other key actors must challenge intolerant public discourse against Muslims, while preserving freedom of expression, concluded participants at an OSCE high-level meeting...

BISHKEK, 27 October 2011- An educational course for Afghan customs officers held in the ‘training-of-trainers’ format concluded in Bishkek today...

SKOPJE, 27 October 2011 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, concluded today her first official visit to Skopje where she discussed the country’s media freedom situation with journalists and government officials...

ASTANA, 27 October 2011 – The state of local self-governance in Kazakhstan was the focus of a roundtable discussion held in Astana today...

Municipalities in Kosovo, who are responsible for maintaining Orthodox graveyards, tend to do so on an ad hoc basis and only rarely, says the OSCE Mission report published in Prishtine/Pristina on 26 October, 2011...

SARAJEVO, 26 October 2011 – The successful conclusion of the 18-month War Crimes Justice Project (WCJP) to strengthen the capacity of national judiciaries in the region to handle war crimes cases was marked at an event in Sarajevo today...

YEREVAN, 26 October 2011 – An OSCE-supported manual for trainers conducting anti-trafficking courses at law enforcement agencies was presented today in Yerevan...

MOSCOW, 26 October 2011 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened its election observation mission to monitor the upcoming 4 December State Duma elections in the Russian Federation...

BELGRADE, 25 October 2011 – The War Crimes Justice Project, an EU funded project, today presented the Serbian version of the Manual on International Criminal Defence to defence lawyers in Serbia...

An OSCE-organized conference on the risks and challenges of accessing information for investigative reporting purposes gathered journalists from Belgrade, Podgorica, Prishtinë/Priština, Sarajevo, Skopje, Tirana, in Prishtinë/Priština on 21 October 2011...

The OSCE Secretariat and the United Nations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the joint implementation of projects to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction...

KYIV, 25 October 2011 – A roundtable discussion on prosecuting cybercrime in Ukraine took place in Kyiv today...

TUNIS, 24 October 2011 – International election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly today declared the first democratic elections in Tunisia as “free and fair” and praised the Tunisian people for their participation in the electoral process...

BAKU, 24 October 2011- The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Bernard Fassier of France, Robert Bradtke of the United States, and Igor Popov of the Russian Federation) and Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk (Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office) traveled October 21-24 to Yerevan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Baku...

THE HAGUE, 24 October 2011 – The International Jury of the Max van der Stoel Award today awarded its 2011 prize to the Nansen Dialogue Centre Skopje (NDC Skopje) for its outstanding work to promote integrated education and improve co-operation between ethnic communities...

VIENNA, 24 October 2011 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, expressed concern at the criminal defamation trial of Dainius Radzevičius, the Chairman of the Lithuanian Union of Journalists, that started in Vilnius today...

A nation-wide campaign to discuss election legislation reform in Ukraine was launched on 23 October 2011 with support from a project funded by the European Union and carried out by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU)...

ASTANA, 24 October 2011 – A three-day workshop on risk management for the customs administrations of CIS countries began in Astana today...

The 16th IPRM meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism took place in Dvani on 21 October. The constructive meeting was co-facilitated by the European Union Monitoring Mission and the OSCE...

The OSCE/ODIHR observer mission made an overall positive assessment of the presidential and municipal elections on 24 October 2011, but said continued reform is needed to address concerns such as pervasive allegations of vote-buying and the near absence of any editorial coverage of the campaign in the media...

VILNIUS, 24 October 2011- The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, today condemned newly adopted amendments to existing laws on public assemblies and the security services, saying they will further limit the fundamental freedoms of assembly and association in Belarus...

Tools and mechanisms to make legislative processes transparent and laws more effective were discussed at a two-day conference, co-organized by OSCE/ODIHR, on 20 and 21 October 2011 in Tbilisi...

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek visited the Rajko Zinzifov primary school in the Čair municipality of Skopje on 20 October 2011...

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 21 October 2011 – The Acting Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Edward Joseph, condemned today the killing of one Kosovo Serb and the wounding of two others in Dobrushë/Dobruša village in western Kosovo...