Can I bargain with the Mayor?

The municipality of Gaza is one of the largest in the Gaza Strip . This town took a new step to address the eight-year-long Israeli siege that greatly affected the work of all service sectors. The municipality’s civil servants found a solution to overcome the lack of municipals cars: bicycles. The project welcomed by Gazans and environmental institutions. First, transportation has been an ongoing problem for years, prompting engineers to consider alternatives. Those presented the idea to provide a bicycle for each of the fifty inspectors at the town hall as an interim solution. This project was approved and implemented in September 2014 by local authority. Each bicycle has a unique serial number and bears the Gaza municipality’s logo. They were all painted orange to distinguish them from other bicycles in the city.  Now, citizens are happy to see the inspectors make their rounds in their neighborhoods. They please with the continuous attention by the inspectors in ensuri...

OSCE Special Representative promotes sustainable assistance to children without parental care in Eastern Europe MINSK, 3 April 2015 – Preparing children to live independently after they leave state-run boarding schools is a key step in combating human trafficking in minors,”  said on Friday OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova. “Teaching life skills is something that we have stressed in our ongoing project for children without parental care,” Jarbussynova added. “It provides them with the tools, as well as the necessary self-confidence, to contribute to their societies as working adults.” The Special Representative made the remarks at the conclusion of a two-day roundtable with leading experts from Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus who gathered in Minsk to exchange good practices and share their expertise. Social workers, government officials and NGO representatives form a core group of experts tha...

Today,  23th December 2014,  the OSCE Centre in Bishkek handed over an additional service facility, an obstacle range and an assault training facility, to the National Guard of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Kyrgyzstan. The event was organized as part of the OSCE Combatting Terrorism Project which aims at strengthening and developing the counter-terrorism capacity of the country.  OSCE Senior Politico-Military Officer Yury Padun. said he  hopes that these facilities will contribute to improving the efficiency of special units of the Kyrgyz National Guard in accomplishment of various tasks in the fight against terrorism”.  The OSCE Centre in Bishkek and the Kyrgyz National Guard signed a protocol on co-operation in the fight against terrorism starting in 2015 with the aim of strengthening counter-terrorism capacity of the National Guard. In particular, it is planned to improve training infrastructure of the Kyrgyz National Guard and provide approp...

City of Barcelona wants to receive 10 millions of tourists. This target is very hard. It can produce a future circumstance that cannot be predicted with certainty. Actually, the relationship is problematic between the citizens and mass tourism. headering contingencies. For now, the results are questionable. Residents of center from “Cuitat Vella" District has enough to live in their quarter. The following video explains the damage of tourism that transforms the neighborhood in an amusement park.

The New York City Council has approved Avonte’s Law. With this legislation, the Town Hall will install audible alarms in the city’s public schools. This law was inspired by the disappearance and death of a 14-year-old with non-verbal autism who ran out of his Queens school. The bill,  passed unanimously, will require alarm installation on the exterior doors of city schools catering to students grades pre-K through fifth, and schools with special needs programs. The bill was named after Avonte Oquendo, who walked out of his Long Island City school while class was in session, and went missing in October 2013. His remains were found in January along the East River. At least eight other New York City children went missing from school since then, spurring the introduction of the bill.  Among them was a 4-year-old boy in Brooklyn who wandered away from school and walked home without a coat on a bitterly cold winter day. The ...

Fortunately, seventy years ago, the “Zigeunerlager”, or “Gypsy Camp”, at Auschwitz-Birkenau, was closed. Some 23.000 Roma and Sinti were murdered. This liquidation didn’t finish with racism in Europe. Today, many political leaders speak with racist rhetoric in public discourse. They don’t refrain from scapegoating Roma and Sinti communities. Then, this attitude can fuel anti-Roma sentiment in society. Those political leaders must understand the important role of leadership in combatting these attitudes. Public discourse still perpetuates old negative stereotypes against these people. In a number of countries in the Europe, Roma are portrayed as criminals or social outsiders. The crucial role of the media in constructing and perpetuating these negative images has recently been confirmed by a comprehensive study in Germany. These stereotypes must be countered, both to bring justice to the victims of the Roma and Sinti genocide, and to create a better future for Roma today. Publ...

Brčko District (pronounced [br̩̂t͡ʃkɔː]) in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina is a neutral, self-governing administrative unit, under the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is formally part of both BiH entities: the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The seat of the district is the city of Brčko . The Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina today called upon the citizens of Brcko District to determine their citizenship before 28 August 2014.It’s a condition of vote in the upcoming general elections. He reminded citizens in Brcko District that they need to opt for one of the entity citizenships to be able to exercise their right to vote and run in the election. The citizens have one month left to act. They can do so in the office of the Brcko District Government or in 14 smaller offices across the District. This is an important issue. Citizens will be unable to fully enjoy their democratic right to vote because they fai...

Today, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented its  Handbook on Promoting Women’s Participation in Political Parties  at a side event on the second day of the OSCE Gender Equality Review Conference in Vienna. The handbook is the first tool of its kind for the OSCE region, produced to support political party leaders in facilitating broader access for women to party structures and elected office. The handbook highlights different strategies for enhancing women’s participation in political parties, including successful examples from political parties in the OSCE region, such as voluntary measures and capacity-building initiatives. Political parties play a key role in increasing women’s political participation, both as candidates and holders of elected office.. We must recognize women’s rights to participate on an equal footing in all spheres of decision-making process within political parties. As part of the event, members of par...

A new fund launched in Skopje today offers grants to municipalities, students, teachers, parents and schools for organizing activities that bring members of different communities together. The “Building Bridges Fund” is a joint effort by the Ministry of Education and Science, the Swiss Embassy and the OSCE Mission to Skopje. Among the Fund’s Advisory Board Members are the well-known music artists Toni Zen, Adelina Tahiri and Rebeka. The Fund is based on the premise that the cultural and linguistic diversity of the country can be an extraordinary asset if channels for communication and exchange exist between the communities. Diversity should be seen as enriching. Negative attitudes towards diversity undermine the development and stability of a country. The Fund can help prepare students for an integrated future in a diverse Europe. The main aim of the Fund is to foster interaction among different communities as a way of increasing their mutual understanding and acce...

In Spain, in many cities, women, adults and people with a disability still have a lot to worry about when it comes to their personal safety. The local authorities and city management have a crucial role to play in the prevention of violence against them, both in public and private spaces, whether it be harassment or attacks outside the home, or domestic abuse behind closed doors. Local authorities can improve the city’s physical environment- for example, through better street lighting, building better alternatives to dark and secluded walkways, or even positioning bus stops in safer areas. Effective interventions often promote consultation and participation from themselves. Local governments can also make cities safer by mainstreaming gender in their crime prevention policies and programmes, especially through sensitisation campaigns, training and development of services for people affected by violence. These programmes have a role in changing attitudes and behaviour that ...