News and press releases

WARSAW, 27 January 2014 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, today met the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, to discuss the situation surrounding anti-government protests in Ukraine, the need for greater efforts to protect human rights defenders, and the Swiss Chairmanship’s priorities in the areas of human rights, democracy and the rule of law...

VIENNA, 17 January 2014- Didier Burkhalter, Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, has expressed concern at recent legal measures taken in Ukraine which contain provisions which recriminalize libel and could impose serious restrictions on fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly...

WARSAW, 10 January 2014 – Ahead of tomorrow’s 12th anniversary of the arrival of the first detainees to the Guantanamo Detention Facility, Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), again urged the United States to close the facility.

VIENNA, 19 December 2013 – OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, highlighted key aspects of the Addendum to the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings in her address today to the Permanent Council.

ASTANA, 12 December 2013- A high-level meeting on current efforts to reduce the prison population and reform penal policies in Kazakhstan, organized by the Prosecutor General’s Office and supported by the OSCE Centre in Astana in co-operation with the Penal Reform International Office in Central Asia, took place today in Astana...

BISHKEK, 11 December 2013 – The presentation of an OSCE-supported monitoring report on torture prevention took place today at a roundtable discussion in Bishkek. The report aimed at detecting cases of torture and ill-treatment in detention facilities, and was prepared by civil society representatives who visited a range of detention facilities across Kyrgyzstan over the past year.

KYIV, 10 December 2013- On the occasion of International Human Rights Day, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara underlined today the important role the OSCE can play in fostering co-operation between participating States in building a community with the highest standards of respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms, and the rule of law...