News and press releases

BERN/MOSCOW/PARIS/WASHINGTON, 2 August 2014 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister, Didier Burkhalter, together with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France, expressed their deep concern about the intense upsurge in violence along the Line of Contact and Armenian-Azerbaijani border that resulted in numerous casualties reported in recent days. They extended their condolences to the families of the victims and shared the anguish of their grievous losses...

On 30 July 2014 the 47th meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) took place in Ergneti, co-facilitated by Toivo Klaar, the Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), and Ambassador Angelo Gnaedinger, the Special Representative of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship for the South Caucasus...

WASHINGTON D.C., 24 July 2014 – The OSCE Chairperson’s Personal Representatives on combatting discrimination and promoting tolerance on 21 to 23 July 2014 made their first joint country visit to the United States where they identified problems, best practices as well as gaps in policy, activities and legislation, and areas where the OSCE can provide further support.

Bern, July 24, 2014 – Noting today’s consensus decision of the OSCE Permanent Council to deploy an Observer Mission to two checkpoints of Donetsk and Gukovo on the Russian-Ukrainian border, the Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister, Didier Burkhalter, stressed the confidence-building character of this measure.

WASHINGTON D.C., 22 July, 2014- With reference to demonstrations in many places in the OSCE area, sparked recently by tensions in the Middle East, and in a few cases with manifestations of intolerance, especially of anti-Semitic rhetoric and acts, Rabbi Andrew Baker, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Combating Anti-Semitism, underlined the importance of the Berlin Declaration. This declaration, adopted ten years ago by the participating States of the OSCE, reads: “[We] declare unambiguously that international developments or political issues, including those in Israel or elsewhere in the Middle East never justify anti-Semitism.”

BERN, 22 July 2014- After the decision of the OSCE Permanent Council, upon request by the Ukrainian government, to extend the mandate of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine for a further six months, the Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister, Didier Burkhalter, welcomed that the SMM will be able to continue to play its crucial role in assisting Ukraine in de-escalating measures...

VIENNA, 18 July 2014 – Representatives of the OSCE’s 57 participating States at the Permanent Council today adopted a declaration on the tragic crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine...