News and press releases

BRUSSELS, 6 March 2019 – OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger launched today in Brussels a report that gives a detailed picture of the physical, sexual and psychological violence many women and girls have had to endure in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe in the last decades.

Enhancing the capacity of a civil society coalition campaigning against discrimination and hate speech in Georgian politics and media was the focus of a workshop organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Borjomi, Georgia on 5 and 6 March 2019. The workshop

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. The Mission saw anti-tank mines close to road H-20 near Olenivka and Berezove. The Mission monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to essential civilian infrastructure in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. Its access was also restricted at a checkpoint near non-government-controlled Verkhnoshyrokivske, preventing the SMM from following up on reports of a civilian casualty...

Current approaches to increasing the effectiveness of criminal policy were the topic of a two-day OSCE-supported conference that began in Ak-Bulak near Almaty, Kazakhstan on 6 March 2019...

Women from across the security and law enforcement sectors in Kyrgyzstan met at a national forum in Bishkek on 4 March to discuss ways of promoting gender equality in their fields of work.

VIENNA, 5 March 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, together with the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection for the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, today welcomed in a letter sent to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union the initiative of a new directive on protection of whistleblowers, but also expressed a number of potential concerns about the current draft text.

Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. The SMM camera at the Donetsk Filtration Station recorded undetermined explosions and projectiles at a range of 50-600m from its location. The Mission monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to essential civilian infrastructure in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere. Its access was also restricted in government-controlled Taramchuk as well as near non-government-controlled Izvaryne and Voznesenivka, areas near the border with the Russian Federation...