News and press releases

The last in a series of four OSCE-supported training seminars for representatives of the government, civil society and judiciary on human rights protection mechanisms in Kazakhstan was completed on 23 November 2017, in the Atyrau region.

ASTANA, 23 November 2017 – The development of legislation and law enforcement practices related to religious activities was the focus of an OSCE-supported roundtable discussion held in Astana on 22 November 2017.

On 21 November and 22 November, the SMM saw that an area in Luhansk city, with radius of up to approximately to 600m from 38 Lunacharskoho Street, was cordoned off (see SMM Daily Report 22 November 2017). On both days, inside the cordoned-off area, the SMM saw about 100 unidentified armed persons, most of them masked (or hiding their faces) and wearing white tape stripes on both arms. In the same area, the SMM also saw four stationary armoured personnel carriers (APC) (one at each location) in Kotelnykova (BTR-variant), Lermontova Street (BTR-variant), Kotelnykova Street (BTR-80), and at Polskoho Street (BTR-70)...

The SMM saw about 150 armed persons and about 30 vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers, in Luhansk city centre, as well as a convoy of military-type armoured vehicles, trucks and armed men near Debaltseve and subsequently near Vesela Tarasivka. The Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas; it recorded ceasefire violations inside the Petrivske disengagement area. Its access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere, including near Volnovakha and Kreminets.* The SMM saw weapons in violation on both sides of the contact line. The Mission facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of essential infrastructure in Zalizne, Betmanove, Vesela Hora and Shchastia, and near Troitske, Krasnyi Lyman and Artema. The SMM continued to monitor the situation of civilians travelling across the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge. It visited two border areas not under government control. The SMM monitored gatherings in Kyiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Chernivtsi....

Enhancing the ability to respect human rights while countering terrorism was the aim of a training course organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) for 22 officers from the Albanian State Police Counter-Terrorism Directorate in Tirana on 21 and 22 November

Thirty-five education professionals from teacher training institutions across the OSCE region came together in Lisbon on 21 and 22 November 2017 for a meeting focusing on solutions to the challenges faced by teachers when they address intolerance, bias, prejudice, anti-Semitism and related subjects

YEREVAN, 21 November 2017 – The protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the further development of effective measures to counter hate crime are central to preventing discrimination against Christians and members of other religions or beliefs, Armenia’s Foreign Minister and OSCE Officials said today at the official opening of a high-level conference in Yerevan, co-organized by the Austrian 2017 OSCE Chairmanship and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) with the support of the Armenian Foreign Ministry...