News and press releases

More than 150 experts and law enforcement officials from OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation took part in the OSCE’s Second OSCE-wide Seminar on Passenger Data Exchange organized by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department’s Border Security and Management Unit on 1 and 2 November 2018 in Vienna...

Sixteen OSCE participating States invoked the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism on 1 November 2018 to look into alleged human rights violations in the Chechen Republic, Russian Federation...

SKOPJE, 2 November 2018 – The OSCE Mission to Skopje marked the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists in Skopje today by launching a guidebook on safety of journalists while covering critical events...

A one-week training course for 15 Serbian border guards to enhance their skills in detecting forged and fraudulent documents as well as imposters was held from 29 October to 2 November 2018 in Belgrade. The course was organized by the Border Security and Management Unit of the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department...

Op-ed by George Tsereteli and Isabel Santos, The Hill, 1 November 2018

VIENNA, 1 November 2018 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today expressed his disappointment after a court decision in Ukraine extended for the third time the pre-trial detention of bureau chief of the RIA Novosti Ukraine news agency, Kirill Vyshinsky...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous reporting period. At a hospital in Donetsk city, the Mission saw a man with two legs amputated, reportedly due to a mine explosion. The SMM observed a weapon in violation of the agreed withdrawal lines near Voitove. It recorded ceasefire violations near the Petrivske and the Zolote disengagement areas. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas; it was also restricted near Novoazovsk – an area close to the border with the Russian Federation – Staromykhailivka, Novolaspa, and again near Zaichenko and Bezimenne. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to the phenol sludge reservoir near Zalizne and to critical civilian infrastructure in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as to enable demining near Nyzhnoteple, Zolote-2/Karbonit and Novotroitske. In Kyiv, the SMM monitored a public gathering related to utility prices...