News and press releases

WARSAW, 2 October 2017- Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), called on the Spanish authorities to ensure respect for fundamental freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression. Her call came after reports of the dispersal by force of protests and assemblies by Spanish police trying to prevent the holding of a referendum in Catalonia that had been suspended by Spain’s Constitutional Court...

The relationship between the work of judicial self-governance bodies and judicial independence and accountability was the focus of a regional roundtable discussion organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Podgorica on 28 and 29 September 2017. The

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission followed up on reports of a civilian casualty from Zhovanka neighbourhood of Zaitseve, Donetsk region. The SMM observed damage to civilian properties in residential areas in Yasynuvata, Donetsk region. The SMM continued monitoring the three agreed disengagement areas and recorded ceasefire violations inside the Petrivske one. Its access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere, including in Shcherbak in Donetsk region.

VIENNA, 29 September 2017 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today condemned the fire bombing of the Moscow offices and threats against the Russian news website Lenta.ru.

The Guidelines on the Legal Personality of Religious or Belief Communities, developed jointly by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, were presented and discussed at the United Nations Office in Geneva on 29 September

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission followed up on reports of a civilian casualty from Kramatorsk. The SMM observed damage to civilian properties in residential areas in Marinka and near a bus stop in the Trudivski area of Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi district. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas and recorded ceasefire violations near, but outside, the Zolote and Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere.* It saw weapons in violations of withdrawal lines in areas outside of government control. The Mission facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of essential infrastructure in Shchastia, Almazna, Luhanske, and Myronivka. The SMM followed up on reports of an incident at an ammunition depot in Kalynivka, Vinnytsia region.

A workshop on the prevention of early forced marriages, organized by The OSCE Mission to Montenegro, was conducted in Tivat, Montenegro, on 29 September 2017.