News and press releases

VIENNA, 18 April 2018 – Slovenia’s Chairmanship of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation will be characterized by the country’s commitment to the ongoing efforts to restore confidence in the OSCE area, said State Secretary of the country’s Foreign Ministry Andrej Logar at the Forum in Vienna today...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM observed damage in a residential area of Yasynuvata. Near Chabanivka, shots were again fired at an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it observed ceasefire violations near Stanytsia Luhanska. Its access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas as well as near Izvaryne near the border with the Russian Federation, and in Starohnativka.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to electrical infrastructure near Maiorsk, the Petrivske pumping station and a high-voltage powerline near Yuzhna-Lomuvatka. In Kyiv, the SMM followed up on reports of an incident involving firearms in a building where internally displaced persons are known to live.

A series of four pilot training courses on preventing and identifying Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism (VERLT), for police commanders from the local Uniformed Police and the local Police Sections for Countering Terrorism and Extremism throughout Serbia, took place from March to April 2018 in Novi Sad, Niš, Novi Pazar and Belgrade...

Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall number of border crossings by persons increased at both BCPs...

Promoting the full and equal participation of women with disabilities in political and public life was the focus of discussions at a conference organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Vienna on 16 and 17 April 2018. Over 90 parliamentarians and

The development of a road map on solar energy in Turkmenistan was the focus of an OSCE-supported discussion in Ashgabat on 17 April 2018 for officials from the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Institute of Solar Energy of the Academy of Science of Turkmenistan, the State Committee for Environment Protection and Land Resources, professors from the Mary Turkmen State Energy Institute and representatives of other relevant institutions and nature protection public organizations...

COPENHAGEN, 17 April 2018- Ignacio Sanchez Amor (MP, Spain), Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee, today expressed his concern regarding the state of freedom of expression in Poland, following the stripping of immunity from several opposition parliamentarians last week...