News and press releases

KYIV, 17 April 2014- The OSCE’s National Dialogue Project in Ukraine completed its field work today. The project was deployed in March 2014 to explore how the OSCE can contribute to social cohesion and tolerance amid the current crisis...

ODESA, 16 April 2014- Ending her three-day visit to Ukraine, OSCE media freedom representative Dunja Mijatović today said that the media freedom situation in Ukraine has reached a very dangerous stage, and she alerted OSCE participating States that unless this trend is reversed it could contribute to the deterioration of the security situation.

As the current crisis in and around Ukraine demonstrates, propaganda and deterioration of media freedom often go together to fuel a conflict, and once it starts they contribute to its escalation. The need to stop propaganda is frequently being used as a reason for blocking and jamming television and radio signals or imposing other restrictions to freedom of expression and freedom of the media. Taking into consideration the broadness and vagueness of the term propaganda, and its direct link to political speech, its blank prohibition would violate international standards for the protection of free expression and free media.

Kyiv/Odessa, April 14, 2014- During his visit to Ukraine today, Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Didier Burkhalter, expressed his full political support to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission. By gathering information and observing, establishing facts and reporting them in an impartial manner, the monitors “are the eyes and ears of the international community in Ukraine”, Burkhalter said. In order to enhance transparency and the level of accurate information about ongoing developments, the Mission in addition to providing reports for OSCE participating States has also started a daily public reporting, he continued.

This update is provided for the media and the public Throughout the day of 14 April 2014, the western and central parts of Ukraine remained calm, with routine police presence, whereas the situation in the south-eastern and eastern regions of the country remained tense. The situation in Donetsk and Luhansk districts continued to cause concerns owing to the observed presence of masked individuals in several towns of the region, occupying several administrative buildings and erecting barricades and roadblocks.

An OSCE-supported regional conference presented the first guide on cybercrime designed to serve as a tool for the judiciary, prosecution and police. The two-day event, which took place on 10-11 April 2014 in Przno, Becici, was organized by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, US Embassy in Podgorica and the Judiciary Training Centre.

Within the scope of strengthening mechanisms supporting Montenegro in the area of human rights and anti-discrimination, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights organized a two–day workshop for 25 misdemeanour judges on 7 April 2014 in Przno...