News and press releases

Andorra’s priorities within international organizations, its foreign policy and engagement with the OSCE were the focus of a meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Andorra, Maria Ubach Font, and Secretary General Thomas Greminger on 29 October 2018 in Vienna.

VIENNA, 31 October 2018 – A special session of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation, held under the Forum’s Swedish Chair, today marked the 18th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security – a landmark document, speakers said, which stresses the importance of full and equal participation of women and men in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security...

TASHKENT, 31 October 2018 – A three-day training course on protecting the rights of alleged victims and accused persons for police investigators from Tashkent and the surrounding area, conducted by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, commenced today.

International standards in the area of legal recognition of religious or belief communities and progress towards their implementation in Spain were the focus of an event co-organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Madrid on 30 October 2018.

On 27 and 28 October, the SMM followed up on its lost long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV had gone missing on 27 October at night while it was flying over an area south-east of Nyzhnokrynske (non-government-controlled, 66km east of Donetsk) following a convoy of seven trucks near the border with the Russian Federation (see SMM Spot Report 27 October 2018)...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region, compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM observed weapons in violation of agreed withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. It recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas as well as near Zaichenko, Kozatske, Yuzhna-Lomuvatka and Bezimenne. The SMM monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable demining activities near Nyzhnoteple and Zolote-2/Karbonit. It facilitated repairs to civilian infrastructure in Berehove and near Artema and to residential houses in Marinka and Krasnohorivka...

Renewable energy, green technology, resources efficiency and harmonizing environmental legislation were the focus of a series of training courses conducted by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe in October. Conducted in Bokhtar, Garm, Khorog and Khujand, the courses promoted the realization of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in Tajikistan. They brought together some 140 representatives of local government, civil society, youth and OSCE-established Aarhus Centres from all regions of the country...