News and press releases

VIENNA, 13 December 2017 – Following prosecution’s demand for life sentences and court decisions to continue the detention of several journalists facing life in prison, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today repeated his call for Turkey to release imprisoned journalists...

Some 100 high-level officials from the region dealing with the fight against corruption and senior representatives of Serbian institutions, civil society organizations and the media gathered for a regional conference in Belgrade on 14 December 2017 to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day.

Updating a handbook created to assist OSCE participating States in establishing sustainable mechanisms and structures to counter human trafficking was the focus of a high-level international expert meeting organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw

VIENNA, 14 December 2017 – The decision by Poland’s National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) to impose a fine of 1.48 million Polish Złotys (€352,000) on one of the country’s leading private independent broadcasters, TVN SA, for coverage by one of its channels, TVN24, of opposition demonstrations in Warsaw in December 2016 is unjustified and disproportionate, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir said today...

On 13 December at 00:05, while at its forward patrol base on the northern edge of government-controlled Popasna (69km west of Luhansk), the SMM heard ten explosions assessed as outgoing artillery fire 200-500m west to west-north-west, and smelt propellant. SMM staff (consisting of five monitoring officers, a paramedic and a language assistant) at the forward patrol base immediately entered the base’s basement shelter. At 00:36, one of the monitoring officers left the shelter to assess the security situation and heard three explosions assessed as outgoing artillery fire and saw three muzzle flashes 200-500m west to west-north-west. A representative of the military-civil administration in Popasna then told the SMM by telephone about heavy shelling occurring near Popasna and recommended it to remain in the shelter. The Mission noted that shelling ceased at 01:20 and then resumed from 01:45 until 02:20. Between 00:05 and 02:20, the SMM, while in the shelter, heard approximately 60 undetermined explosions at an undetermined distance and direction...

Election experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) met with electoral stakeholders in Sofia on 12 and 13 December 2017 to present the  final report  of ODIHR’s limited election observation mission for the 26 March 2017 early parliamentary elections in

GENEVA, Switzerland, 13 December 2017- The 42nd round of the Geneva International Discussions has just concluded...