Comic, Santos, Kulkuloglu to lead Third Committee. ISTANBUL, 2 July 2013 – Isabel Santos, former vice-chair of the OSCE PA Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, has been elected to chair the committee. In the final day of committee business at the Annual Session, parliamentarians elected a new leadership team for the Assembly’s human rights committee, promoting Santos of Portugal to chair, electing Mehmet Sevki

Washington Post 2 July 2013 Kathy Lally MOSCOW — A 57-country conflict-resolution organization on Tuesday urged Russia to allow adoptions to proceed for the 300 U.S. families who had begun the process when a ban was imposed on Americans . 'The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, founded during the Cold War to mediate disputes over arms and human rights, avoided singling out Russia by name. But the

Members of the First Committee vote on amendments to the resolution. ISTANBUL, 1 July 2013 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's political and security committee today passed a resolution to increase military transparency and strengthen international agreements on arms control. The resolution calls for parliaments and governments to ratify the Arms Trade Treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, renew negotiations on the Conventional

Nilza Sena. Roza Aknazarova and Roger Williams . ISTANBUL, 1 July 2013 - The Second General Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment Monday elected its new committee leadership, promoting Roza Aknazarova (Kyrgyzstan) to the position of chair. She had previously served as vice-chair of the committee and acted as chair during the current Annual Session. Aknazarova has been an increasinly active voice in the Assembly

The General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions. ISTANBUL, 1 July 2013 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions today passed a resolution calling for government action to uphold freedom of expression, whether it is on the streets or on the Internet. The resolution also "strongly urges" governments to respect the rule of law and judicial independence, and to

Committee Rapporteur Doris Barnett presents her report and resolution. ISTANBUL, 1 July 2013 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s economic and environmental committee adopted a resolution today at its Istanbul Annual Session calling for binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions, new fees to make short-term stock speculation more expensive, and the utilization of green growth initiatives as an alternative to economic austerity. The resolution