News and press releases
News and press releases from the OSCE's global activities.
OSCE/ODIHR Director calls on Belarus to stop executions, introduce immediate moratorium on death penalty
Publishing date: 9 May 2016
WARSAW, 9 May 2016 – Reacting to the reported execution in Belarus of Syarhey Iwanow and a 6 May Supreme Court ruling upholding the death sentence against Sergei Khmelevsky, Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), today again called on Belarus to introduce an immediate moratorium on executions, as a step towards complete abolition of the death penalty...
OSCE parliamentarians travelling to Calais to examine conditions for refugees and migrants, provide policy recommendations
Publishing date: 9 May 2016
COPENHAGEN, 9 May 2016 – Members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s newly formed Ad Hoc Committee on Migration will be in Calais, France, this week to see the conditions for refugees and migrants seeking shelter in encampments there. The visit will serve as a fact-finding mission to enable the parliamentarians to gain a first-hand impression of conditions and to develop policy recommendations to improve the collective response to the refugee and migrant crisis...
OSCE launches series of training seminars on National Preventive Mechanism in Kazakhstan
Publishing date: 6 May 2016
A two-day OSCE-supported training seminar for members of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) for Preventing Torture and Ill-treatment on practical aspects of NPM implementation began in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan on 6 May 2016...
OSCE Mission to Moldova holds first Civil Society Club meeting in 2016
Publishing date: 29 April 2016
The OSCE Mission to Moldova held the first in a series of Civil Society Club meetings on 28 April 2016 aimed at developing the practical skills of NGOs on the left bank of the Dniester/Nistru River. The event was held in Tiraspol and brought together staff members from 21 NGOs specializing in health, ecology and children’s rights, among other issues...
OSCE trains newly recruited prison staff in Kyrgyzstan
Publishing date: 29 April 2016
JALAL-ABAD, Kyrgyzstan, 29 April 2016 – Some 46 newly recruited prison staff today concluded a two-week capacity-building training course organized by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek and the Kyrgyz State Service on Execution of Punishment held from 18 to 29 April 2016...
OSCE launches series of seminars in Kazakhstan on access to information and public councils
Publishing date: 28 April 2016
SHYMKENT, Kazakhstan, 28 April 2016 – The first of ten OSCE-supported two-day seminars for some 30 officials and journalists on the implementation of Kazakhstan’s laws on “Access to Information” and “Public Councils” began today in Shymkent, South Kazakhstan Region...
ODIHR Director calls on Kyrgyzstan to free human rights defender Azimjan Askarov
Publishing date: 22 April 2016
WARSAW, 22 April 2016 Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), welcomed the UN Human Rights Committee’s decision yesterday on human rights defender Azimjan Askarov’s complaint, calling on Kyrgyzstan to release Askarov and overturn his sentence...