News and press releases

TIRANA, 24 May 2019 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened an election observation mission for the 30 June local elections in Albania. The mission’s deployment follows an official invitation from the country’s authorities...

Compared with the previous reporting period, the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in non-government-controlled areas. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to critical civilian infrastructure and to allow for the transfer of a body across the contact line. The Mission observed for the first time anti-tank mines near Pyshchevyk and mine hazard signs near Nelipivka. A man died from natural causes at the entry-exit checkpoint in Marinka. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. The Mission’s freedom of movement was also restricted at non-government-controlled checkpoints near Novoazovsk, Kozatske and Oleksandrivske in Donetsk region.

Promoting change in policies, attitudes and training curricula to achieve higher representation of women and members of minorities in justice sector institutions was the focus of an event in Vienna on 23 May 2019, during which the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) launched its paper Gender, diversity and justice.

The democratic control of armed and security forces in the context of the eastern Mediterranean region was the focus of a seminar organized by the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre and Cyprus from 20 to 24 May 2019 in Larnaca. The discussion brought together more than 60 participants from OSCE participating States and the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation. The participants included senior officers from the armed forces, senior government officials, and representatives of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, academia and civil society...

SARAJEVO, 23 May 2019 – A two-day training course on the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the context of regional and international security, which gathered some 40 participants from seven countries of South-Eastern Europe started today in Sarajevo. The training course is jointly organized by the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the OSCE Transnational Threats Department and the OSCE Mission to BiH...

LONGYEARBYEN, 23 May 2019 – The concrete impact of global warming and the changing nature of the Arctic region are the focus of an OSCE PA visit hosted by the Norwegian parliament this week. In Svalbard, one of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, OSCE parliamentarians explored new local realities in the High North and considered how climate change poses security risks for the entire OSCE region...

On 21 and 22 May 2019, representatives of national human rights institutes and ombudspersons from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia and Azerbaijan as well as experts from international organizations and civil society gathered to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Ombudsperson Office in Dushanbe.