News and press releases

VIENNA, 27 March 2017- The Annual Meeting of the OSCE Border Security and Management National Focal Point Network opened at the Hofburg Conference Centre in Vienna today. The two-day meeting is organized by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department in co-operation with the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship...

OSCE and UNECE (the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) jointly organized a meeting of the Working Group on Flood Management and Climate Change Adaptation in the Dniester River Basin on 23 March 2017 in Chisinau, Moldova. The meeting attracted more than 60 participants from the ministries of the environment, water agencies, hydro-meteorological services, research institutions and non-governmental organizations from Moldova and Ukraine...

At 12:45 on 26 March, an SMM patrol of four mission members in two armoured vehicles stopped 500m north-east of government-controlled Orikhove-Donetske (44km north-west of Luhansk). At about 13:10, a couple minutes after launching a mid-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the SMM observed another UAV almost directly above the patrol’s position, approaching from the south-south-west at a height of approximately 100 metres. The UAV was slightly larger than the SMM UAV and darker in colour, with a larger wingspan and vertical wingtips. It sounded like it had an electric motor. The SMM immediately began the landing procedure for its own UAV. The other UAV flew over the SMM patrol’s position, circled three times – steadily gaining altitude – and then departed to the west...

A five-day regional training course for 14 cybercrime and digital forensics investigators from Azerbaijan and Georgia focusing on investigating malware started on 27 March 2017 in Tbilisi. The course is organized by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department’s Strategic Police Matters Unit with the support of the Georgia Internal Affairs Ministry and its Academy...

COPENHAGEN, 27 March 2017 – Belarusian authorities must respect principles of freedom of assembly in their handling of demonstrations, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee Chair Ignacio Sanchez Amor and Kent Harstedt, the Chair of the Assembly’s Ad Hoc Working Group on Belarus, said today in response to mass arrests of protesters that took place over the weekend. They further called for the release of those who are still in detention...

SOFIA, 27 March 2017 – Contestants in Bulgaria’s early parliamentary elections could reach out to voters freely, while the low-key campaign was generally characterized by public disillusionment with politics and election weariness, international observers concluded in a preliminary statement released today. The legal framework is largely conducive to holding democratic elections, and amendments since the 2014 elections addressed some previous recommendations for improvements, but further efforts are needed, the statement says...

Strengthening protection and preparedness against terrorist attacks aimed at industrial control systems is the focus of a table-top simulation held in Skopje on 27 and 28 March 2017. Twenty-six experts from different state authorities and private sector representatives, such as operators, providers and owners, are participating in the national exercise organized by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department with the support of the OSCE Mission in Skopje...