OSCE Chairperson-in-Office welcomes adoption of mandate for OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Baku
KYIV, 26 July 2013 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Leonid Kozhara today welcomed the consensus reached by the OSCE participating States on the mandate of the OSCE field presence in Azerbaijan.
“The adoption of the mandate for the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Baku is an important step towards continuing mutually beneficial co-operation between the OSCE and the Republic of Azerbaijan aimed at implementing OSCE principles and commitments,” said Kozhara. “The decision provides a positive co-operative response to the willingness of the Government of zerbaijan to make further progress in this regard.”
The mandate of the Project Co-ordinator in Baku will enter into force on 1 January 2014. The Project Co-ordinator will build on the valuable work done by the OSCE Office in Baku.
The Permanent Council today also decided to extend the mandate of the OSCE Office in Yerevan until 31 December 2014.
Politics
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OPHRD), a joint program of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has called for the urgent release of activist Rufat Safarov from prison in Azerbaijan. It has launched a campaign in support of the Azerbaijani human rights defender. https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/arbitrary-detention-and-judicial-harassment-against-rufat-safarov
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This year, the laureate of the annual Nargiz Prize, awarded for efforts in the fight for democracy, was Akif Gurbanov, chairman of the board of the Resplatforma (Platform of the III Republic) movement, who is under arrest.
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The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has expressed condolences to the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, following the tragic incident in the city of Magdeburg. "We are deeply shocked by the news of the deaths and injuries resulting from the tragic incident that took place at the Christmas market in Magdeburg," the message reads.
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