News and press releases

As setbacks to gender equality become more visible across the OSCE region, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) emphasized the crucial role of strong human rights systems in reversing this trend at a side event of the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference.

The sharp rise in the number of war crimes trials being heard by local courts across the OSCE region was the topic of discussion during a side event at the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference entitled “Beyond the Hague: the OSCE and current challenges in securing justice for victims of war crimes”, organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with the Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group, a civil society partner from Ukraine.

Monitoring trials is an effective means to safeguard fair trial rights, strengthen accountability and build public confidence in the judiciary, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) underlined at a side event of the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference today.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has conducted over 600 interviews to document alleged violations of human rights and humanitarian law through its Ukraine Monitoring Initiative (UMI).

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes daily life, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is calling for renewed attention to a fundamental yet often overlooked right: freedom of thought.

National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) play an indispensable role in ensuring respect for and protection of human rights in the context of national security as counter-terrorism measures expand, often at the expense of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, participants said today at an event organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

WARSAW, 7 October 2025 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) expresses concern over the violent protests following Georgia’s recent local elections. Amid the rapid deterioration of the democratic and human rights environment in the country, ODIHR urges the Georgian authorities to respect the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, and to ensure that civil society can carry out its important work freely and safely.