News and press releases

Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall number of border crossings by persons decreased at both BCPs compared to the previous week...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24 hours. The Mission followed up on reports of a boy injured by the explosion of a hand grenade in Dokuchaievsk. The SMM continued monitoring all three disengagement areas; it recorded ceasefire violations in the Petrivske disengagement area and near the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas. The Mission’s access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere, including near Verkhnoshyrokivske.* The SMM saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Hranitne. It facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of essential infrastructure in Shchastia, near Artema, and between Zolote and Popasna. The SMM visited two border areas not under government control. The Mission monitored a gathering in Volyn region, as well as the administrative boundary line between Kherson region and Crimea...

VIENNA, 11 October 2017- The OSCE Secretariat in Vienna has recently started using electricity which is 100% derived from renewable energy sources. Wien Energie, the main energy supplier to the Austrian capital, is awarding today the OSCE with a certificate to mark this achievement...

WARSAW, 11 October 2017 – Focused action and co-operation, including among governments and civil society, are vital to effectively ensuring the safety and human rights of children, and particularly children in situations of risk, participants said at the opening of the OSCE Human Dimension Seminar today in Warsaw...

Representatives of ministries dealing with transport logistics, finance institutions, the State Customs and State Border Services, the Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists, and other state bodies participated in an OSCE-organized seminar on facilitating the development of secure national transport and trade infrastructures that took place in Ashgabat on 10 and 11 October 2017...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM followed up on reports of a civilian casualty from Zaitseve. The SMM continued monitoring all three disengagement areas; it recorded ceasefire violations close to the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas and saw a white signal flare fired from near a checkpoint south of the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge. Its access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere, including in Vesela Hora and Horlivka.* The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Zaichenko and Bezimenne. It facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of the thermal power plant in Shchastia and power lines near Toretsk. It visited two border areas not under government control...

NICOSIA, 10 October 2017 – Harlem Désir, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, during his visit to Cyprus launched an exchange programme for young journalists from the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities in the next phase of his Office’s "The Cyprus Dialogue” project, which was initiated in March this year...