COPENHAGEN, 28 February 2012 – President Petros Efthymiou has announced that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly will observe the Russian presidential election on 4 March. Efthymiou, who led the observation mission to Russian Duma elections in December, made the decision after a discussion with heads of national delegations at the Assembly's Winter Meeting. He nominated Vice-President Tonino Picula

COPENHAGEN, 24 Febuary 2012 – President Petros Efthymiou today issued the following statement on Syria with consent of the Joint Session of the Assembly's three General Committees: "As President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, I deeply regret the violence and loss of life in Syria. As OSCE participating States and partners for co-operation have expressed their concern about the current situation, I call for a full respect of human rights

Rapporteur Vilija Aleknaite-Abramikiene presents her plans for the 2012 Annual Session in Monaco, 23 Feb 2012. VIENNA, 24 February 2012 – The meeting of the OSCE PA's General Committee on Political Affairs and Security on Thursday, chaired by German parliamentarian Karl-Georg Wellmann, included a report from the committee rapporteur on her plans for the upcoming Annual Session in Monaco, and a follow-up report from the vice-chair regarding

OSCE PA Senior Counsellor Semyon Dzakhaev speaks with Committee Chair Serhiy Shevchuk before the meeting, 23 Feb 2012. VIENNA, 24 February 2012 – OSCE parliamentarians debated the economic and financial crisis in Europe in the Parliamentary Assembly's General Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and the Environment yesterday. Chaired by Ukrainian parliamentarian Serhiy Shevchuck, the committee pointed out that austerity and

INTERFAX.RU 23 February 2012 Дочь экс-премьера Украины Евгения Тимошенко призывает Организацию по безопасности и сотрудничеству в Европе (ОБСЕ) провести расследование фактов злоупотреблений, совершаемых в правовой системе страны. "ОБСЕ может использовать свои полномочия по проведению расследований, чтобы изучить ситуацию с правами человека в Украине и то, как постоянно происходит злоупотребление правовой системой нашего государства для

Itar-Tass 23 February 2012 VIENNA, The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will gather for its winter session on Thursday to discuss a wide range of issues, pertaining to the main areas of OSCE activities. A special discussion on the second day of the session will be devoted to the future of the system of conventional arms control in pan-European space. Participating in the forum will be about 250 legislators from more than 50 countries, including a