News and press releases

Horticulture, greenhouse management, use of information technologies in farming and forming and managing co-operatives in the farming sector were the focus of a five-day training and study trip organized by the Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan for ten Uzbek women farmers to the Netherlands, from 3 to 7 June 2019...

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. Windows damaged by small-arms fire in a residential area of Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region. The Mission observed for the first time about 160 anti-tank mines near government-controlled Krasnohorivka. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. The SMM’s freedom of movement was also restricted near Novoazovsk and Hryhorivka, as well as at a checkpoint near Shevchenko and at a permanent storage site, all in non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk region...

VIENNA, 6 June 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today raised serious concerns about media freedom in Poland following a verdict of the District Court in Poznań which sentenced journalist Anna Wilk on criminal defamation charges to a three-year ban on practicing journalism and a fine totalling more than 1,500 euros. Wilk works with the Tygodnik Gazeta Powiatowa, a local newspaper in the town of Wronki.

TBILISI, 6 June 2019 – Addressing a conference focused on parliamentary oversight today, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) called for continued attention to uphold and strengthen OSCE parliaments’ roles in holding governments accountable.

International rule of law standards related to the right to a fair trial in criminal proceedings was the topic of a training seminar organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) together with Belarusian judicial institutions on 6 June 2019 in Minsk.

MINSK, 5 June 2019 – 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 5 June 2019...

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The SMM saw a slightly injured man and damage from shelling at a mosque in non-government-controlled Donetsk city, as well as an injured man and damage from shelling to his house in non-government-controlled Uzhivka. The Mission saw fresh damage caused by small-arms-fire to an apartment building in non-government-controlled Dokuchaievsk. The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The Mission observed the presence of unexploded ordnance in government-controlled Novoluhanske. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere...