News and press releases

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM followed up on reports of a civilian casualty in Zholobok. The Mission observed damage caused by shelling in a residential area of Orikhove. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it continued to observe mines inside the Petrivske disengagement area. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and was also restricted near Holmivskyi and Markyne as well as at a heavy weapons holding area in an area of Donetsk region outside of government control. The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. It continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station, including through monitoring the security situation around the station. It monitored and facilitated repairs to the Zolote-Popasna water pipeline, the water distribution network in Stanytsia Luhanska, the Voda Donbassa network in Holmivskyi and a fibre optic line south of the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge. In Kyiv, the SMM monitored public gatherings...

GENEVA, Switzerland, 20 June 2018- The 44th round of the Geneva International Discussions has just concluded...

VIENNA, 20 June 2018 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today called on Moldova to ensure legal certainty and to uphold its commitments on media freedom, following a legal review his Office shared with the Chairperson of Moldova’s parliament on the country’s draft Code of Audio-visual Media Services...

The second in a series of OSCE workshops on the development of guidelines and a training module for better co-ordinated, harmonized and victim-centred identification of human trafficking cases among mixed migration flows concluded in Athens on 20 June 2018. The one-day event was organized jointly by the OSCE Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (OSR/CTHB) and the Office of the National Rapporteur on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece.

Promoting dialogue to reflect on opportunities and challenges related to democratic representation in the age of rising populism was the focus of a conference co-organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Brussels from 18 to 20 June 2018. The conference,

A two-day high-level international conference on the International Decade for Action, “Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028” started in Dushanbe on 20 June 2018. The Conference is organized by the government of the Republic of Tajikistan in co-operation with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Water and in partnership with the OSCE and other international organizations

WARSAW, 20 June 2018 – While the countries in the OSCE region have committed themselves to protecting the human rights of all refugees, they also have the responsibility to ensure the security and dignified treatment of all individuals wanting to cross borders, especially the most vulnerable and those at the greatest risk, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said on today’s World Refugee Day...