News and press releases

DUSHANBE, 9 November 2017 – An agreement to establish a Regional Explosive Hazards Training Centre at Tajikistan’s Ministry of Defence was signed in Dushanbe today by Ambassador Tuula Yrjölä, Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, and Lieutenant General Sherali Mirzo, Tajikistan’s Minister of Defence.

Respecting and promoting the use of the official languages is critical to meaningful integration and the building of a sustainable multi-ethnic society, said OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Lamberto Zannier at the “Forum on Language Compliance in Kosovo” held in Prishtinë/Priština on 9 November 2017...

Initiatives to facilitate increased representation of persons with disabilities in political party structures across Europe and the broader OSCE region were the focus of a meeting organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Brussels on 8 November 2017. The meeting, at the European Parliament, was organized in co-operation with the Parliament’s Disability Intergroup and the European Disability Forum.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area. Its access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere, including near Khrustalnyi.* The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Khrustalnyi. The SMM followed up on reports that the electricity supply had been cut to a pumping station causing water shortages in parts of Luhansk region. It facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of essential infrastructure to power lines near Novozvanivka, to the power plant in Shchastia and to the water pipeline between Zolote and Popasna. The Mission visited a border crossing area not under government control. It monitored a gathering of some 2,000 people outside the Parliament in Kyiv...

Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall number of border crossings by persons decreased at both BCPs compared to the previous week...

An OSCE-supported two-day workshop on customs administration procedures with a focus on goods crossing the territory of the Customs Union concluded on 8 November 2017 in Astana.

SKOPJE, 8 November 2017- A whole-of-society approach to preventing and combating violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism is the focus of a tabletop exercise taking place in Skopje from 7 to 9 November, organized jointly by the OSCE Mission to Skopje, the United States Embassy and the Partnership for Peace Consortium, in co-operation with the Office of the National Committee for Countering Violent Extremism and the Fight against Terrorism.