COPENHAGEN, 25 July 2014 – Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), the Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, today expressed concern over events this week in Russia that appear aimed at stifling civil society and political dissent. “While the world focuses on the crisis in Ukraine and Russia’s troubling role in those events, no one should overlook what has been a disturbing week of

COPENHAGEN, 18 July 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) issued the following statement today on the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine: "I deplore in the strongest possible terms the apparent downing of a Malaysian Airlines flight near Ukraine's border with Russia. On behalf of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, I extend my deepest condolences to the families and friends of the

Left to right: OSCE parliamentarians Margareta Cederfelt (Sweden), Gordana Comic (Serbia) and Arta Dade (Albania) at the OSCE's Gender Equality Review Conference on 11 July. COPENHAGEN, 11 July 2014 – Senior OSCE parliamentarians have addressed the OSCE’s Gender Equality Review Conference in Vienna, discussing the progress made and the challenges that remain in closing the gender gap within the Organization, the OSCE area and their respective

Newly elected OSCE PA President Ilkka Kanerva. BAKU, 2 July 2014 – Ilkka Kanerva, the former Foreign Minister of Finland and former Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, was elected President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on the final day of its 2014 Annual Session in Baku. “It is my wish and personal ambition to recall the spirit of Helsinki,” said Kanerva, referring to the OSCE’s founding document, the Helsinki Final Act of 1975. “And above

Wide-ranging recommendations in fields of security, human rights and more approved by wide margin OSCE parliamentarians vote on the Baku Declaration on the final day of the 23rd OSCE PA Annual Session. BAKU, 2 July 2014 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has adopted the Baku Declaration, lending political support to wide-ranging policy recommendations for the OSCE and its 57 participating States in the fields of political affairs and security,

OSCE parliamentarians vote following a debate on Ukraine, 1 July. BAKU, 1 July 2014 – By a majority of three-to-one, OSCE parliamentarians approved a resolution that condemns Russia’s recent actions in Ukraine during a plenary meeting today at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s 2014 Annual Session Baku. Parliamentarians voted by a margin of 92 in favor to 30 against with 27 abstentions on the item, which “condemns the clear, gross and