News and press releases

VIENNA, 27 June 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today called upon the authorities of Tajikistan to investigate reports that a journalist’s family members were intimidated and to reconsider withdrawal of press accreditation for Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) correspondent in Dushanbe.

To commemorate the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on 26 June, the Coalition against Torture (CAT), with the support of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek, held a series of events in the cities of Bishkek and Osh.

KYIV, 26 June 2019 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group, Ambassador Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press:

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer Luhansk region. • Small arms were fired in the vicinity of the SMM, and other civilians, in Donetsk city and of an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle near Zolote. • The SMM followed up on a boy injured from the detonation of unexploded ordnance in Holmivskyi. • The Mission saw fresh craters near Vodiane and Molodizhne, and again saw the presence of mines near Vodiane, Travneve, Holmivskyi and Nyzhnie Lozove. • The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to water pipelines in Luhansk region and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure in Donetsk region. • Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewere.*

A capacity building workshop for Central Asian states entitled “Strengthening National, Sub-Regional and International Capacities to Prepare for and Respond to Deliberate Use of Biological Weapons” in the framework of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was conducted from 26 to 27 June 2019 in Bishkek. The workshop was organized by UNODA’s Implementation Support Unit of the BWC in co-operation with the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek and the Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan...

WARSAW, 26 June 2019 – Eradicating all forms of torture and putting survivors’ rights at the centre of focus must become a priority of countries across the OSCE region, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said on today’s International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

KYIV, 26 June 2019 – The Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, Yaşar Halit Çevik, welcomed the willingness expressed at a recent meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group to disengage from the agreed area at Stanytsia Luhanska, and reiterated the Mission’s full readiness to monitor the disengagement process...