News and press releases

COPENHAGEN, 14 January 2019 – With the persistence of a dangerous climate for journalists in many countries of the OSCE region, the leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee, Chair Margareta Kiener Nellen (MP, Switzerland), Vice-Chair Michael Georg Link (MP, Germany), and Rapporteur Kyriakos Hadjiyianni (MP, Cyprus), today called for increased attention to the importance of the safety of journalists. Recent developments demonstrate that journalists have been facing increasing repression, intimidation, physical attacks and restrictions on their freedom to work, they said...

VIENNA, 10 January 2019 – OSCE PA President George Tsereteli (Georgia) and Secretary General Roberto Montella welcomed the priorities outlined by the new OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Slovakia’s Minister for Foreign and European Affairs Miroslav Lajcak, in his address to the OSCE Permanent Council today.

COPENHAGEN, 14 January 2019- The leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee, Chair Margareta Kiener Nellen (MP, Switzerland), Vice-Chair Michael Georg Link (MP, Germany), and Rapporteur Kyriakos Hadjiyianni (MP, Cyprus), today called for urgent steps by Turkish authorities to ensure the safety of Member of Parliament Leyla Güven, imprisoned pending trial.

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. • The SMM recorded ceasefire violations and saw military presence and anti-aircraft guns inside the Zolote disengagement area. It recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area. • The Mission observed weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. • The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repair works to essential civilian infrastructure in Luhansk region. • In Kyiv, the Mission monitored a protest during which protestors expressed views critical of veterans and of the Ministry for Veterans Affairs. • In Zhytomyr, the SMM monitored a court hearing of a journalist accused of involvement in anti-state activities. • Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas.*...

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. • The SMM followed up on reports of three civilians injured near Vasylivka as the result of an explosion and three civilians who reportedly died of heart attacks while at a checkpoint in Horlivka. • The SMM recorded ceasefire violations in the Zolote disengagement area and near the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas. • The Mission continued to observe hardships faced by civilians at checkpoints along the contact line related to inclement weather and long wait times. • The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repair works to essential civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. • The SMM followed up on reports of a fire at a church in Rzhyshchiv, Kyiv region. • The SMM observed a peaceful public gathering in Kherson. • Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued, including in all three disengagement areas. An SMM unmanned aerial vehicle was targeted by small-arms fire while flying near Popasna.*

VIENNA, 11 January 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, published today a legal review of two laws on the fight against the manipulation of information, which were adopted on 20 November 2018 by the French parliament. The review was shared with the French authorities in November...

VIENNA, 10 January 2019- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, expressing his concern over the sentencing of investigative journalist Pelin Ünker...