News and press releases
News and press releases from the OSCE's global activities.
Migration and security in focus, as OSCE PA Chairperson Santos, Secretary General Montella address Rome panels
Publishing date: 4 March 2016
ROME, 4 March 2016 – The Chairperson of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), and OSCE PA Secretary General Roberto Montella addressed high-level panels in Rome this week on the crisis of migrants and refugees and the international community’s response...
ODIHR expresses appreciation for work of Poland’s Commissioner for Human Rights in joint statement with other global and regional human rights organizations
Publishing date: 1 March 2016
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) joined with other global and regional intergovernmental human rights organizations and experts in issuing a statement of appreciation for the work of Poland’s national human rights institution, the Commissioner for Human Rights,
OSCE/ODIHR event in Kyiv focuses on lessons learned and recommendations for further reforms developed in project on security of religious communities in Ukraine
Publishing date: 26 February 2016
Lessons learned and recommendations for further reforms in policy, legislation and practice developed over the course of a project to promote the security of religious communities in Ukraine were the focus of an event organized by the OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Kyiv on 25 and 26 February 2016.
OSCE/ODIHR Director Link welcomes latest attempt by US President Obama to bring about closure of Guantanamo Bay detention facility
Publishing date: 24 February 2016
WARSAW, 24 February, 2016 – Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), today welcomed the move by United States President Barack Obama to send to Congress a plan to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay...
OSCE/ODIHR Director calls on Belarus to introduce moratorium on death penalty
Publishing date: 18 February 2016
WARSAW, 18 February 2016 – Today, following the sentencing to death in Minsk of both Sergei Khmelevsky this week and Henadz Yakaritski on 5 January 2016, Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), called on Belarus to introduce an immediate moratorium on the death penalty and its complete abolition...
Albanian court reduces unreasonable delays in trials after embracing OSCE and USAID-initiated ‘Justice without delays’ project
Publishing date: 16 February 2016
BAJRAM CURRI, Albania, 16 February 2016 – The Tropoja District Court in northern Albania today presented the first results of the OSCE- and USAID-initiated Justice without delays project, which reveal significant improvements to the efficiency of the trial sessions...
OSCE/ODIHR trains Ukrainian lawyers on litigation related to freedom of religion or belief
Publishing date: 12 February 2016
The right to freedom of religion or belief in the case law and practice of the European Court of Human Rights was the focus of training organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 11 and 12 February 2016 in Kyiv.