News and press releases

The SMM observed over 20 ceasefire violations involving the use of mortar, all in the wider area of Kominternove, but no ceasefire violations in the area of Donetsk airport. All ceasefire violations in Luhansk region were assessed as live-fire exercises. The Mission saw armed men in Kominternove and spoke to residents. The SMM followed up on casualties from alleged exchange of fire in Zaitseve on 9 January. The SMM followed up on tensions between religious communities in western Ukraine and monitored a peaceful commemoration in Odessa...

COPENHAGEN, 12 January 2016 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) issued the following statement on today’s terrorist attack in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district:..

WARSAW, 11 January 2016 – In an open letter published today, marking 14 years since the opening of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), joined with four UN independent human rights experts in calling on the United States government to close the facility and hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations against detainees, both present and past...

The SMM observed a number of ceasefire violations, mainly around Donetsk airport, in Horlivka and in the wider area of Kominternove. In particular, there was a significant increase in the number of explosions observed in Horlivka. The Mission liaised with both sides of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination to facilitate adherence to the ceasefire and evacuate an injured woman in Zaitseve. For the first time in over a month, the SMM had access to the border area of Sverdlovsk, where it observed a calm situation...

The SMM observed a generally calm situation throughout Donbas, with the exception of Horlivka and Telmanove, where it observed multiple ceasefire violations. In Luhansk region, the Mission observed live-fire training exercises in many areas not controlled by the Government...

The SMM observed relative calm with a small number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions and no ceasefire violations in the area near Donetsk airport. In Horlivka, armed “DPR” members temporarily held SMM monitors, and forced them to the ground at gunpoint. In areas not controlled by the Government, the SMM was denied access on five occasions and was granted conditional access at one occasion...

COPENHAGEN, 8 January 2016 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions Chairperson, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), today urged Poland’s leaders to repeal the country’s new media law, which gives the government direct control over the management of public broadcasters...