News and press releases

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous 24 hours. The Mission followed up on reports of a civilian casualty in Marinka. It observed a fresh impact site in Popasna. The Mission 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 in Novolaspa.* The SMM observed weapons in violations of the withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. It facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of essential infrastructure in Shchastia and Dovhe, and near Zalizne, Novozvanivka, and Vesela Hora. It visited a border area not under government control...

VIENNA, 14 November 2017 – Developing effective co-operation to address the threat of terrorism has been the focus of a two-day visit to Vienna by members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Countering Terrorism. Committee members met with officials from the United Nations and the OSCE’s executive structures to learn about their efforts and promote a stronger parliamentary perspective in counter-terrorism work.

More than 50 representatives of law enforcement agencies and other ministries from France, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Afghanistan well as experts from nine international organizations gathered in Tashkent on 13 and 14 November 2017 to discuss greater co-operation among law enforcement agencies in combating the threat of illicit drugs, including New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), facilitated by the Internet and the “Darknet”...

ASHGABAT, 14 November 2017- International standards and best practices in the field of waste management were the focus of an OSCE-supported regional seminar that concluded in Ashgabat today. The seminar was attended by international experts and representatives of relevant governmental authorities in Central Asia, academia, NGOs and the business sector.

GRAZ, Austria, 14 November 2017 – Access to justice for persons belonging to national minorities from a conflict prevention perspective is the focus of a new set of recommendations for OSCE participating States, which were launched by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Lamberto Zannier today at the University of Graz, Austria...

PODGORICA, 14 November 2017 – Austria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Linhart, representing the 2017 OSCE Chairmanship, visited Montenegro today, stressing the importance of close co-operation and strategic partnership between the country’s authorities and the OSCE Mission to Montenegro...

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) joined with other global and regional intergovernmental human rights organizations in calling for greater efforts to ensure inclusive education, in a statement on 13 November 2017 marking the 10th anniversary of the landmark