Helga Schmid becomes new OSCE Secretary General

The OSCE Council of Foreign Ministers has officially appointed German diplomat Helga Schmid as Secretary-General of the organization. As reported by the Report, this was announced on Friday by the Albanian chairmanship in the OSCE on Twitter.

The OSCE Ministerial Council also appointed Italian Human Rights Defender Matteo Mecacci as Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The Council also appointed former Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov as High Commissioner for National Minorities Affairs, and Portuguese diplomat Maria Teresa Ribeiro as Representative on Freedom of the Media.

The Secretary-General, Director of the Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Representative on Freedom of the Media, and High Commissioner for National Minorities have been vacant since July 18, 2020. The appointment of four new OSCE representatives required the consensus of all 57 participating States.