Secretary General Spencer Oliver, US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and President Joao Soares in Washington. WASHINGTON, 16 June 2010 – President Joao Soares today appeared before the United States Helsinki Commission (Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe), stressing the need for greater transparency and accountability in the work of the Organization. During the two-day Presidential visit to Washington, DC, the delegation, which

ASHGABAT, 7 June 2010 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Joao Soares today completed a two-day visit to Turkmenistan, intended to support the work of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat. President Soares, a Member of Parliament from Portugal, welcomed the opportunity to get familiarised with the work of the OSCE Centre and the situation in the country. The delegation, which also included parliamentarian Canan Kalsin from Turkey and OSCE PA

Hosted by the Parliament of Norway, the Storting, the 19th Annual Session’s theme is “Rule of Law: Combating Transnational Crime and Corruption.” Registration will open on the premises of the Oslo Congress Centre at noon onMonday, 5 July. The Standing Committee will meet at 09:00 on Tuesday, 6 April, followed by the Inaugural Plenary Session. All meetings will take place at the Oslo Congress Centre. At the request of the OSCE

TODAY'S ZAMAN 1 June 2010 Speaker of Turkish Parliament Mehmet Ali Şahin said Tuesday Turkey wanted peace in its region and in the world. Şahin received Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) President Joao Soares and an accompanying delegation in Ankara on Tuesday.

COPENHAGEN, 21 May 2010 – Matteo Mecacci (Italy) said today that it is up to the Kazakh authorities to urgently find a just conclusion to the case of the human rights defender Yevgeny Zhovtis, who is serving a four year sentence at a penal colony in Ust-Kamenogorsk following a fatal traffic accident last year. Domestic legal experts and international observers at his trial reported numerous procedural violations, and questioned whether he was

EURASIANET.ORG 20 May 2010 After an OSCE representative visited one of the Kazakhstan's most prominent human rights defenders in prison recently, Astana, the current OSCE chair, issued an order to ban reporting on the visit, reports an OSCE watchdog. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's human rights chief Matteo Mecacci visited Yevgeny Zhovtis at his prison colony near the remote town of Ust-Kamenogorsk on May 13. Zhovtis