News and press releases

Customized teaching materials to address anti-Semitism were presented at a train-the-trainer workshop organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development in Belgrade on 11 and 12 December 2018.

Raising awareness about the specific nature of hate crime in the Czech Republic was the purpose of a seminar organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Czech Republic’s Government Agent for Human Rights in Prague on 11 December 2018. The participants –

Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area. SMM unmanned aerial vehicles spotted destroyed houses in the south-eastern part of Pivdenne in Donetsk region and fresh craters in residential areas of Zolote-4/Rodina and Zolote-5/Mykhailivka, in Luhansk region. The SMM saw a weapon in violation of withdrawal lines in Oleksandro-Kalynove. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to water and electric infrastructure on both sides of the contact line and to damaged houses in Marinka. It continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station. Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. The SMM was also restricted near Siedove and Dovzhanske – close to the border with the Russian Federation – and near Popasne.

OSCE participating States should act more decisively to enhance the participation of Roma and Sinti in public and political life, participants said at an event in Vienna on 11 December 2018. The event was organized to present a report by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) assessing the status of implementation of the Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti within the OSCE Area.

VIENNA, 10 December 2018 – The Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFOM), together with the International Press Institute, are organizing the world premiere today in Vienna of their film, A Dark Place – a documentary highlighting the experiences of female journalists who have been targeted by online harassment...

Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 7 and 8 December, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Between the evenings of 8 and 9 December, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous 24 hours. Small-arms fire was directed at an SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle near Bila Hora.* The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region. The SMM continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station. Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. The SMM was also restricted at a checkpoint in Novolaspa and close to Voznesenivka, a non-government-controlled area of Luhansk region near the border with the Russian Federation.* The Mission observed a calm situation at the crossing point in Chonhar and other areas in the south-eastern part of Kherson region.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to water infrastructure on both sides of the contact line, as well as to enable repair works to damaged houses in Marinka. It continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station. Restrictions to the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. The SMM was also restricted in Izvaryne. In Kyiv, the SMM monitored a peaceful protest during which it heard participants expressing views critical of the Russian Federation and calling for banning Russian-owned businesses in Ukraine.