News and press releases

VIENNA, 4 June 2019 – Security is inextricably linked with development, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Nilza de Sena (MP, Portugal) said today at the OSCE’s Security Days event in Vienna. Parliamentarians must push for the full implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), de Sena said, noting that the PA can play an important part in generating the needed political will.

BELGRADE, 4 June 2019 – Only an inclusive, accountable and democratically controlled security sector with full respect for human rights, gender equality and the rule of law can effectively provide security to a state and its citizens, said speakers at a high-level discussion in Belgrade today ahead of a two-day regional meeting organized by the Slovak OSCE Chairmanship and the OSCE Secretariat on security sector governance and reform (SSG/R)...

VIENNA, 4 June 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, published today a legal review of the Austrian draft Law on Diligence and Responsibility Online. The review was officially sent on 23 May 2019 to the President of the National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka, and to the Ministry for the EU, Art, Culture and Media.

Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 31 May and 1 June, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. Between the evenings of 1 and 2 June, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region compared with the previous 24 hours and no ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. A woman was injured by shrapnel in Pikuzy. Residential buildings were damaged by small-arms fire and shrapnel in Chermalyk and Dokuchaievsk. The SMM saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk region. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. The Mission’s freedom of movement was also restricted at a border crossing point outside government control and at a railway station near Voznesenivka, at a checkpoint in government-controlled Bohdanivka, and at checkpoints in non-government-controlled Zaichenko and Novoazovsk. The SMM saw a gathering of members of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Chernivtsi...

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. A man sustained shrapnel injuries in Donetskyi. The Mission saw fresh damage caused by gunfire to civilian properties in Vesele. The SMM observed for the first time anti-tank mines near Krasnohorivka and Staromykhailivka. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to critical civilian infrastructure in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as to enable the recovery and transfer of the body of deceased Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel from non-government- to government-controlled areas in Luhansk region. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere. The Mission’s freedom of movement was also restricted at a checkpoint near non-government-controlled Zaichenko...

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The Mission saw fresh damage from shelling to civilian properties in non-government-controlled Sentianivka. Small-arms fire was directed at an SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle near non-government-controlled Pervomaisk. The Mission observed trench extensions in and near the Petrivske disengagement area. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. The Mission’s freedom of movement was also restricted at checkpoints near non-government-controlled Zaichenko and Verkhnoshyrokivske...

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. The SMM followed up on reports of two injured civilians (including a child), as well as observed damage from shelling to residential houses in Horlivka and Yasynuvata. The SMM saw anti-tank mines for the first time near non-government-controlled Sentianivka and Olenivka. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure. In Lviv, the SMM followed up on reports of an arson attack at an Alfa-Bank branch. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. It was also restricted at a checkpoint near non-government-controlled Novoazovsk...