News and press releases

NUR-SULTAN, 6 May 2019 – On the occasion of the formal opening of the election observation mission deployed by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to observe the 9 June early presidential election in Kazakhstan, the mission will hold a press conference in Nur-Sultan on Wednesday...

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM saw fresh small-arms fire damage to a residential house in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. The SMM recorded an explosion inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in non-government-controlled areas. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to civilian infrastructure and damaged houses, as well as to enable demining activities at cemeteries in government-controlled areas of Luhansk region. It also continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station and monitor the security situation around the pumping station near Vasylivka. Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere...

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to civilian infrastructure and damaged houses, as well as to enable demining activities at cemeteries in government-controlled areas of Luhansk region. It also continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station and monitor the security situation around the pumping station near Vasylivka. Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. The SMM was also denied access at a border crossing point near Voznesenivka, a non-government-controlled area of Luhansk region near the border with the Russian Federation.* In Odessa, the SMM monitored three gatherings to commemorate those who lost their lives during the events of 2 May 2014...

PODGORICA, 3 May 2019 – Celebrating World Press Freedom Day, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and its media programme partners gathered today in Podgorica to discuss the special role that quality journalism and fact checking can play when facing disinformation...

The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe conducted a roundtable discussion on the issue of judicial independence for 30 lawyers, legal scholars, and former judges and prosecutors. The event was held on 30 April 2019 and organized in partnership with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).

BRATISLAVA, 3 May 2019 – On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, visited Bratislava to pay tribute to the investigative journalist, Ján Kuciak, and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, who were killed in February 2018...

On 3 May 2019, journalists and media experts from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Afghanistan gathered to celebrate World Press Freedom Day in Dushanbe at the international conference Promoting Mass Media to the Sustainable Development of Peace and Democracy...