News and press releases

OSLO, 13 September 2011 – A delegation of high-level members of Turkmenistan’s Central Election Commission and Mejlis (Parliament) exchanged views on practical aspects and modern methods of regulating, organizing and conducting elections during a working visit to Norway that concluded today...

From 4-11 September OSCE organized a study tour to London for representatives of the Women’s Police Association in Kyrgyzstan...

ROME, 12 September 2011 – Participating States need to step up their efforts to effectively prevent and combat hate crimes against Christians, participants said at the opening of an OSCE conference in Rome today...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 12 September 2011 – A workshop on groundwater management organized by the OSCE Centre in Astana, the Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Cluster Office in Almaty and the International Hydrological Programme (IHP), started today in Almaty...

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo has launched a series of ten regional training sessions on standard operating procedures for dealing with victims of trafficking...

BISHKEK, 10 September 2011 – An OSCE-organized forum on the role of the Kyrgyzstan’s Parliament in ensuring the conduct of transparent presidential elections, took place today...

BAD REICHENHALL, Germany, 9 September 2011 – The Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audrionus Ažubalis, opened a bilateral meeting between the leaders of the sides in the Transdniestrian conflict- Prime Minister Vlad Filat of Moldova and Transdniestrian leader Igor Smirnov – in the German town of Bad Reichenhall today...

VILNIUS, 9 September 2011 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, today welcomed his country’s granting of asylum to Belarusian journalist Natallya Radzina...

VIENNA, 9 September 2011 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, today commemorated the victims of terrorism worldwide on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States and reaffirmed the importance of free media in fighting terrorism...

PODGORICA, 9 September 2011 – The Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, Ambassador Šarunas Adomavičius, today transmitted his good wishes to the country's President, Speaker of Parliament, Prime Minister and Members of Parliament on the adoption of the Law on the Election of Councillors and Members of Parliament...

YEREVAN, 9 September 2011 – The winners of a contest to involve young people in anti-corruption efforts received prizes in Yerevan today...

ASTANA, 9 September 2011 – Electoral reform and OSCE commitments for democratic elections were the topics of a roundtable meeting organized today in Astana by the OSCE Centre in Astana, together with Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry and the Central Election Commission...

VIENNA, 8 September 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, released the following statement today...

KYIV, 8 September 2011 – Fighting the laundering of criminal profits through new payment methods was the focus of a roundtable meeting organized by the OSCE in Kyiv today...

VIENNA, 8 September 2011 – Participants of a two-day workshop organized by the OSCE that started in Vienna today will discuss tourism security within the framework of public-private partnerships...

BISHKEK, 8 September 2011 – A two-day course for long-term domestic election observers started today in Bishkek. The courses are organized jointly by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) and the non-governmental organization Taza Shailoo (Fair Elections)...

The May 22 parliamentary elections in Cyprus were competitive, transparent and conducted in an environment characterized by respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms, the final report released by ODIHR on 7 September concludes...

ASTANA, 8 September 2011 – Charging for ecosytem services to invest in more coherent and effective nature conservation is the focus of a two-day OSCE-organized workshop that started in Astana today...

BELGRADE, 8 September 2011 – The Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Ambassador Dimitrios Kypreos, made the following statement today...

The Parties to a key arms control agreement involved in the 1995 crisis in South Eastern Europe are ready to take over from the international community, reported Brig. Gen. Costanzo Periotto of Italy, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Article IV of Annex 1B of the Dayton Peace Accords, to the OSCE Permanent Council on 8 September 2011...

VILNIUS, 8 September 2011 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, speaking ahead of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, today expressed solidarity with the people of the United States and called for intensified co-operation among OSCE participating States and Partner countries to counter transnational threats...

The OSCE Head of Mission, Ambassador Šarunas Adomavičius, met the Director of Montenegro's police, Veselin Veljovic, on 6 September 2011 to discuss the continuing police investigation into the three arson attacks on vehicles owned by daily newspaper Vijesti on 14 and 23 July and on 27 August....

BISHKEK, 7 September 2011- The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Central Asia Miroslav Jenča, the OSCE Chairperson’s Special Envoy for Kyrgyzstan Adam Kobieracki and EU Special Representative for Central Asia Pierre Morel visited Kyrgyzstan today...

VIENNA, 7 September 2011 – Joint efforts are needed to combat terrorism and other transnational threats as well as to promote peace and respect for human rights, said Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, in an address to OSCE participating States in Vienna today...

VIENNA, 7 September 2011 – Modernizing the Vienna Document 1999, addressing issues related to the implementation of OSCE documents on small arms and light weapons, and on conventional ammunition, as well as non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are among the key priorities of Kazakhstan as the new Chair of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC), said the country’s Defence Minister Adilbek Zhaksybekov today...

ASHGABAT, 7 September, 2011 – Experts and officers from Turkmenistan’s State Customs and Border Services and from the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan are taking part in an OSCE-supported workshop on detecting and preventing illegal transboundary trafficking of waste and other environmentally-sensitive commodities that opened in Ashgabat today...

NARYN, Kyrgyzstan, 7 September 2011- The first in a series of two-day training seminars on DNA expertise for forensic experts and investigators started today in Naryn in the north of Kyrgyzstan...

KYIV, 6 September 2011- The OSCE Strategic Police Matters Unit in co-operation with Ukraine’s State Financial Monitoring Service launched an anti-crime profits-recovery seminar in Kyiv today...

A delegation of senior officials from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) visited prominent human rights defender Yevgeniy Zhovtis on 3 September 2011 in a settlement colony in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan, where he is serving a four-year sentence for vehicular manslaughter...

VIENNA, 5 September 2011- The following is a press release issued by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on 5 September. The views expressed in this press release do not necessarily reflect those of the OSCE Chairmanship, nor of all OSCE participating States...

The protection of the rights of torture victims, application of international human rights standards during the investigation and prosecution of torture crimes, as well as existing national practices and problems in this sphere is the focus of a three-day OSCE-supported training course for prosecutors, deputy prosecutors and assistant prosecutors that started on 5 September in Bishkek...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) opened a one-day conference on 5 September in Istanbul, on the importance of ensuring that Turkish legislation on the regulation of political parties meets international standards and OSCE commitments...

NAKHCHIVAN, Azerbaijan, 5 September 2011 – A two-day OSCE-supported training session for non-governmental organizations in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) of Azerbaijan started today...

DVANI, 2 September 2011- The 15th meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) took place in Dvani today. The meeting was co-facilitated by the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) and the OSCE...

PRISHTINЁ/PRIŠTINA, 1 September 2011 – The OSCE Mission in Kosovo launched today a public information campaign to help municipalities increase public participation in the 2012 municipal budget planning process...

VILNIUS, 31 August 2011 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, today condemned the suicide bomb attack in Grozny, the capital of the southern Russian republic of Chechnya...

Harmonizing population and voter-registration systems in OSCE participating States, including efficient data-sharing mechanisms in compiling accurate voter lists, is being discussed at a seminar organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw...

The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, spoke at the European Forum Alpbach’s Political Symposium 2011 entitled Justice – Responsibility for the Future on 29 August...

VIENNA, 29 August 20110 – Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, today expressed concern at a new arson attack against a vehicle owned by the Podgorica-based Vijesti newspaper...

PODGORICA, 29 August 2011 – The Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, Šarunas Adomavičius, today strongly condemned the continuation of attacks on vehicles owned by the newspaper Vijesti...

SARAJEVO, 29 August 2011 – Ambassador Fletcher M. Burton took up his duties today as Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, meeting with Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj. They discussed the role of the OSCE in BiH and Ambassador Burton reaffirmed the Mission’s engagement in key areas for the country’s future...

BAKU, 28 August 2011- The OSCE Office in Baku is concerned about the convictions of political activists Babek Hasanov, Zulfugar Eyvazov, Elshan Hasanov, Arif Alishli, Elnur Israfilov and Sahib Karimov in connection with their participation in the 2 April demonstration...

RIGA, 26 August 2011 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights today opened a limited election observation mission to monitor the 17 September early parliamentary elections in Latvia...

A study tour to Latvia and Finland for representatives of Kyrgyzstan’s penal enforcement body took place from 21 to 27 August 2011, organized by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek with support of the Permanent Mission of Finland to the OSCE...

OSH, Kyrgyzstan, 25 August 2011 – An Iftar- the evening meal breaking the daily fast during the month of Ramadan- with local and regional state officials, members of different religious communities, police authorities and representatives of ethnic communities in Osh was held today by the OSCE Field Office in Osh in partnership with Kyrgyzstan’s State Commission for Religious Affairs...

SARAJEVO, 25 August 2011 – The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina today issued a call for applications for residents in Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Cazin, Doboj, Novi Grad Sarajevo, Siroki Brijeg and Tesanj for the Citizens’ Academy 2011 project, aimed to help citizens learn about how muncipal and city administrations work...

YEREVAN, 24 August 2011 – Ambassador Sergey Kapinos, the Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, and Aghvan Hovsepyan, the Armenian Prosecutor General, today signed a co-operation agreement on prosecutorial reform in Armenia...

YEREVAN, 19 August 2011 – A new draft law on religious freedoms was debated today at a public discussion organized with the support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan...

TALDYKORGAN, Kazakhstan, 18 August 2011 – The OSCE Centre in Astana launched a series of regional training seminars today to help specialized staff in orphanages and vocational schools prevent human trafficking...

BULAN-SOGOTTU, Kyrgyzstan, 18 August 2011 – Representatives of non-governmental organizations and the Ombudsman’s office began discussions today to develop a joint methodology for monitoring detention facilities at a meeting organized by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek...