News and press releases

Elections experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) met with electoral stakeholders in Tbilisi on 21 and 22 March 2019 to present the ODIHR final report on last year’s presidential election in Georgia. The report’s findings and recommendations were presented

“Today’s verdict in the case of Radovan Karadzic is another crucial step toward holding accountable those individuals most responsible for genocide and other atrocities committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina...

VIENNA, 14 March 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today welcomed the bringing of criminal charges against Marian K., an alleged instigator of the murder of the Slovak investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnirova. The alleged instigator had previously threatened the reporter.

The role of media monitoring and regulation, media coverage and the role and impact of social network platforms during elections was the focus of an OSCE Chairmanship-supported presentation by Slovak media expert Rastislav Kužel in the Montenegrin Parliament on 12 March 2019 in Podgorica...

More ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous 24 hours, were recorded by the SMM. The SMM observed fresh damage from small-arms fire to a functioning school in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka and fresh impact craters near populated areas in Zolote-4/Rodina. The Mission recorded ceasefire violations and observed fresh impact craters inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM observed weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines in non-government-controlled areas. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere. Its access was also restricted in non-government-controlled areas, including at checkpoints near Zaichenko and Kreminets and in Izvaryne, an area close to the border with the Russian Federation.*

The Montenegrin Ministry of Culture hosted a roundtable discussion on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on National Public Broadcaster Radio-Television of Montenegro, on 8 March 2019 in Podgorica. The meeting was organized with the support of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro...

VIENNA, 8 March 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today called on the Ukrainian authorities to reverse the entry ban to Ukraine imposed on Christian Wehrschütz, a journalist with the Austrian Public Service Broadcaster (ORF)...