News and press releases

MINSK, 11 July 2018 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG and its Working Groups in Minsk on 11 July 2018:

From 4 June to 11 July 2018, the OSCE Presence in Albania, together with the Albanian School of Public Administration, trained 200 public officials on issues of good governance, integrity and anti-corruption. The public officials of mid- and lower management level came from 20 municipalities from the regions of Tirana, Durrës, Elbasan, Gjirokastra and Dibra, with half of them coming from the Tirana Municipality alone...

VIENNA, 11 July 2018 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today expressed his concern about an excessive sentence of 12 years in a penal colony handed down to Khayrullo Mirsaidov by a court in Tajikistan.

This report is for the media and the general public. The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission followed up on reports that a 14-year-old boy had been injured by the explosion of an object, which he had picked up in Zlatoustivka. It also followed up on reports of recent damage caused by shelling in a residential area of Zolote-4/Rodina. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas and again observed military presence inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas, as well as near Markyne, Nova Marivka and Bezimenne.* The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station, including through monitoring the security situation around the station, as well as repairs and maintenance works to other essential civilian infrastructure near Zalizne, Artema, Novotoshkivske and Raivka...

BERLIN, 11 July 2018 – OSCE parliamentarians should spare no effort in conveying OSCE values to parliamentary colleagues and to enact legislation that promotes full implementation of international commitments, the Parliamentary Assembly stated in the Berlin Declaration adopted at the German Bundestag today. (Download the Declaration in English, French or Russian.)

VIENNA, 11 July 2018 –The security situation in the Mediterranean region was a key area of focus at today's joint meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation and the Permanent Council in light of large movements of refugees and migrants.

Seventeen civil society professionals from the left bank of the Dniester/Nistru River successfully completed a two-day capacity-building training course on best practices in identifying and assisting victims of trafficking in human beings. The event was organized by the OSCE Mission to Moldova in partnership with the Transdniestrian NGO Women’s Initiatives from 10 to 11 July 2018 in Tiraspol...