News and press releases

MILAN, 7 December 2018- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, welcomes today’s adoption of a decision on the safety of journalists by all 57 participating States at the 2018 OSCE Ministerial Council in Milan.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM continued to observe hardships faced by civilians at checkpoints along the contact line and followed up on reports that civilians had remained after closing hours in the area between the checkpoint of the armed formations and the entry-exit checkpoint of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Maiorsk. It facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to essential civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line, as well as to damaged houses in Marinka. The SMM continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station. The Mission followed up on reports of vandalism in a Polish Military Cemetery in Lviv. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and at a checkpoint near Novolaspa.

An award ceremony marking the completion of the Open Data Challenge 2018, a digital information competition organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz), in co-operation with the Ministry for Development of Information Technology and Information of the Republic of Uzbekistan, took place today in Tashkent.

International rule of law standards related to the prevention of domestic violence were the topic of a seminar organized on 6 December 2018 in Minsk for participants from across Belarus. The seminar was organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the

MILAN, 7 December 2018 – The escalation of tensions in the Kerch Strait, election observation methodology, counter-terrorism, strengthening the OSCE, confidence-building measures, civil society and democracy were among the topics of discussion over two days of bilateral meetings between the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President and high-level diplomats on the margins of the OSCE Ministerial Council taking place this week in Milan.

The OSCE’s role as a key partner in implementing a new roadmap for controlling small arms and light weapons (SALW) in the Western Balkans was the topic of a side event held on 7 December 2018 during the OSCE Ministerial Council in Milan, Italy.

Several foreign ministers, high-level government representatives and experts gathered for a discussion on promoting economic connectivity in the OSCE area on Thursday, 6 December 2018 during the 25th OSCE Ministerial Council in Milan.