News and press releases
News and press releases from the OSCE's global activities.
Weekly update from the OSCE Observer Mission at Russian Checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk based on information as of 08:00 (Moscow time), on 24 September 2014
Publishing date: 24 September 2014
KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKY, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) is operating at full capacity. Cross-border traffic flows remained steady at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs) although the total number of border-crossings has slightly decreased. Similar to the previous week, more people left the Russian Federation (RF) for Ukraine at the two observed BCPs. Regular local and long-distance bus connections are now operating between cities in the RF and the Luhansk region. The OM observed a significant increase in minivan traffic at both BCPs and again considerable numbers of persons in camouflage clothing crossing the border. Supporters of the so-called ‘Novorossiya’ advised OSCE observers to return to their home countries...
Don’t overlook humanitarian impact of Ukraine crisis, urges OSCE PA’s Kulkuloglu
Publishing date: 24 September 2014
COPENHAGEN, 23 September 2014 – As the international community supports a diplomatic solution in Ukraine, the humanitarian impact of the crisis must not be overlooked, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Mehmet Sevki Kulkuloglu told a gathering of international human rights experts in Warsaw...
Proposed media ownership requirements could further damage media pluralism in Russia, OSCE Representative says
Publishing date: 24 September 2014
WARSAW, 24 September 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today called on the Russian authorities to carefully address proposed changes to legislation on media ownership requirements...
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received as of 18:00 (Kyiv time), 21 September 2014
Publishing date: 22 September 2014
The SMM continued to monitor the full range of issues within its mandate, with a particular focus on compliance with the provisions of the memorandum signed on 19 September in Minsk. It also observed rallies in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa against the Russian Federation’s policy towards Ukraine...
Defending human rights of most vulnerable crucial to meeting security challenges, say speakers at OSCE conference in Warsaw
Publishing date: 22 September 2014
WARSAW, 22 September 2014 – OSCE participating States have to focus on the most vulnerable in particular if their efforts to defend human rights are to effectively promote security, speakers said at the opening of the OSCE Human Dimension Meeting in Warsaw today...
OSCE/ODIHR and High Commissioner on National Minorities publish handbook on advancing national minorities’ involvement in electoral processes
Publishing date: 22 September 2014
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) presented their Handbook on Observing and Promoting the Participation of National Minorities in Electoral Processes at a side event on the first day of the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw on 22 September 2014.
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received as of 18:00 (Kyiv time), 18 September 2014
Publishing date: 19 September 2014
The SMM continued to carry out activities related to the monitoring of non-use of weapons in areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Interlocutors from the Crimean Tatar community informed the SMM that the building of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People in Simferopol had been searched by Russian Security Services...