News and press releases

Vienna, 30 July 2018 –Austrian Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs Karin Kneissl met today with OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger at the headquarters of the organization in Vienna.

WARSAW/VIENNA, 30 July 2018 – Effective policies to combat trafficking in human beings, including the trafficking of children, must focus on both the effects and the roots of this terrible crime, OSCE senior officials said today, on the occasion of the World Day against Trafficking in Persons...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer violations in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM followed up on three civilian casualties from unexploded ordnance near Hranitne and Horlivka. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske and observed new firing positions and a freshly dug trench inside the Zolote disengagement area. Its access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas as well as near Oleksandrivske, Starolaspa, Bezimenne and Siedove, and again in Zaichenko. The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Vershyna, Zolote-3/Stakhanovets and Donetskyi. The Mission continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station, including through monitoring the security situation around the station, as well as repairs and maintenance works to critical civilian infrastructure near Zalizne, Popasna and Artema. In Luhansk city, the SMM observed over 100 large boxes being offloaded from trucks labelled “Humanitarian Aid from the Russian Federation”. In Kyiv, the SMM monitored a procession organized by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of up to 70,000 people to commemorate the adoption of Christianity.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region compared with the previous reporting period and a similar number of ceasefire violations in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske and recorded ceasefire violations near the Zolote disengagement area. Its access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas as well as, again, in Zaichenko in southern Donetsk region and at a border crossing point near Izvaryne, near the border with the Russian Federation.*

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) launched a new version of its free legislative database Legislationline.org on 27 July 2018. Created in 2002, the online database is designed to assist OSCE participating States in bringing their legislation into line with OSCE

Senior trade and customs officials from five Central Asian countries, Afghanistan, and their main trading partners – Russia and Turkey, received practical guidance on trade facilitation at a three-day annual training workshop on 26 July in Dushanbe. The event was jointly organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. The OSCE Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe hosted the workshop.

On 26 July at 06:35 (Moscow time), the seventy-seventh Russian convoy arrived at the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP). A total of 21 vehicles were checked by Russian Federation border guards and customs officers prior to their crossing into Ukraine. All 21 vehicles had crossed back into the Russian Federation by 15:55 on 26 July.