News and press releases

Eight monitoring networks to record and investigate hate crimes were established across Kosovo as a result of a series of workshops organized by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo between 2 and 30 October 2017. The networks are comprised of police investigators, community police officers and prosecutors who will co-operate to address hate crimes across the regions in a more efficient way. The networks will enable a unified institutional approach to properly identifying, recording and investigating hate crimes.

The involvement of young people in social activities and youth empowerment were the key topics of the OSCE-supported Zhas (Youth) Camp, an annual two-day event which concluded on 29 October 2017 in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan.

A one-day roundtable discussion on women, peace and security took place in Dushanbe on 30 October 2017. The discussion was organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe with the participation of 30 representatives from Tajikistan’s civil society, political parties, national gender experts and

SKOPJE, 30 October 2017 – The second round of mayoral elections in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia were competitive and respect for fundamental freedoms contributed towards conduct of democratic elections, the observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) concluded in a preliminary statement released today...

The OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek handed over video surveillance equipment to the State Committee for National Security of the Kyrgyz Republic (SCNS) on 24 October 2017 in the city of Osh. The video equipment consisting of 18 security cameras will enhance security in the remand prison as well as contribute to prevention of torture and other cruel and degrading treatment or punishment in penitentiaries.

MINSK, 27 October 2017 –Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG and its Working Groups in Minsk on 27 October 2017:

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside the Petrivske disengagement area and near the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere, including in Siedove near the border with the Russian Federation.* The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in Bakhmut and Nyzhnoteple. It facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of essential infrastructure in Shchastia and Artema. The SMM visited a border area not under government control.