News and press releases

Following Estonia’s parliamentary elections on 3 March 2019, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has published its final conclusions. The election was run in a professional and efficient manner, with widespread public confidence in most stages of the process.

Profiling and risk assessment for law enforcement and border control officers at aviation checkpoints was the focus of an OSCE-organized practical training course that is taking place from 1 to 5 July 2019.

The office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities has gathered a group of international experts, researchers and professionals in the field of multilingual education to develop tools to support multilingual education in Central Asia. The Regional Expert School on Multilingual and

A five-day training course aimed at further strengthening the capacity of Tajikistan to counter terrorist financing was organized from 25 to 29 June 2019 in Khujand, Tajikistan...

TIRANA, 1 July 2019 – Albania’s 30 June local elections were held with little regard for the interests of the voters in a climate of political standoff, said observers with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in a preliminary statement of their findings...

On 29 June, the SMM received a Note Verbale from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine notifying that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had completed disengagement in the agreed disengagement area near Stanytsia Luhanska.

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. • The Mission observed demining activities and removal of concrete blocks and other objects inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area. • The SMM followed up on reports of a woman injured due to shelling in Oleksandrivka. • It saw damage caused by gunfire to and near civilian houses and a church in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka and Pikuzy. • An SMM long-range UAV was lost in a non-government-controlled area of Donetsk region. • The Mission saw weapons in violations of withdrawal lines in a government-controlled area in Luhansk region. • The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to facilitate the operations of critical civilian infrastructure. • Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere. Its freedom of movement was also denied near Novoazovsk and Kozatske, and in areas near the border with the Russian Federation, all in non-government-controlled areas.*