COPENHAGEN, 29 June 2011 – The Arab uprisings in North Africa – with more than a million refugees leaving their home countries – has created a migration challenge that requires greatly enhanced international co-ordination, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on Migration Kathleen Ferrier (MP, Netherlands) said today. OSCE Partners for Co-operation Tunisia and Egypt have taken in almost one million people from Libya since

COPENHAGEN, 28 June 2011 – Meeting for the first time since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will consider a resolution to address nuclear energy safety and create a global system to co-ordinate disaster preparedness and response. With nuclear energy accounting for 35 per cent of Europe’s electricity, the resolution stresses the need to plan energy infrastructure mindful of “environmental threats and nuclear

MOSCOW, 28 June 2011 – OSCE PA Secretary General Spencer Oliver met with Russian Central Election Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov 28 June in Moscow to discuss modalities for the observation of the Russian parliamentary elections to take place on 4 December. The OSCE PA has observed every Russian parliamentary election since 1993. In 2007, when OSCE/ODIHR chose not to observe due to numerical limitations placed on their proposed observation

COPENHAGEN, 27 June 2011 – The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe should provide assistance when asked in the fields of democracy and human rights in North Africa, according to a proposed resolution released today by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. “With the rapid change we are seeing in our partner countries of Tunisia and Egypt and elsewhere, the time is now for the OSCE to step up and lend its considerable experience to

COPENHAGEN, 24 June 2011 – With an eye toward reforming the world’s largest regional security organization, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly will convene its 20th Annual Session in Belgrade, Serbia on 6 July. More than 250 Members of Parliament from more than 50 countries are expected to meet in Belgrade under the theme of “Strengthening the OSCE’s Effectiveness and Efficiency – A new start after

COPENHAGEN, 21 June 2011 – OSCE PA Secretary General Spencer Oliver today released the following statement regarding the passing of Yelena Bonner, one of Russia's most prominent human rights activists, who died 18 June at the age of 88. "Yelena Bonner was a tireless and courageous advocate for human rights and an inspiration to Helsinki monitors not only in the Soviet Union and Russia, but throughout communist regimes in Eastern Europe," Mr.