Civil.ge 9 July 2012 The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE approved on July 9 a resolution on Georgia, underlining Georgia's territorial integrity and referring to breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as "occupied territories". The resolution, hailed by Georgian officials for its reference of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as "occupied territories", was put forward to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Annual Session in Monaco on 5-9 July by Polish

Washington Post 9 July 2012 MOSCOW – An international body devoted to security and democracy Sunday chided Russia – one of its 56 members – on its human rights record and urged governments to impose sanctions by banning visas and freezing the assets of Russians connected to the death of a crusading lawyer named Sergei Magnitsky.Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), representing the United States at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for

John McCain speaks in support of OSCE PA resolution on rule of law in Russia. Case of Sergei Magnitsky central to international political debate MONACO, 8 July 2012 – Parliamentarians from across Europe, Central Asia and North America today voted today to call on parliaments to ban visas and freeze assets for human rights abusers connected to the death of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky. The debate at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

Left to right: Susanne Bratli (Norway), Vilja Aleknaite Abramikiene (Lithuania) and Asa Lindestam (Sweden). MONACO, 8 July 2012 – At the close of Sunday's meeting of the OSCE PA's General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, Matteo Meccaci (Italy) was re-elected Chair of the Committee, Isabel Santos (Portugal) was elected Vice-Chair and Ann Phelan (Ireland) elected Rapporteur, all by acclamation. In the General

The First Committee continued to debate amendments to Rapporteur Vilija Aleknaite Abramikiene's draft resolution Saturday morning. Five amendments were discussed, two of which were adopted. The resolution passed with one vote against and one abstention. The supplementary item "Helsinki +40" was adopted with one dissenting vote, while the "Impact of Small States in the OSCE" was agreed to unanimously. The resolution on Moldova also received

Charter 97 7 July 2012 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly urges Minsk to release all political prisoners. The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on Saturday adopted a resolution calling on the Belarusian government to immediately and unconditionally release and exonerate all political prisoners. The resolution contains a list of individuals whom the Assembly views as political prisoners. The list features 13 names, including Ihar Alinevich, Mikalay