News and press releases

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations inside the Petrivske disengagement area. Its access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere, including at a heavy weapons holding area in a non-government-controlled area of Donetsk region.* The SMM saw shelling damage on a roof of a building in Novooleksandrivka and impact sites in residential areas of Dokuchaievsk. The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Volnovakha. It facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of essential infrastructure near Zalizne, Vesela Hora, Artema and Zolote. In Kyiv the SMM followed up on the situation around the protest camp outside the Parliament building...

Strengthening the capacity of government officials from Kazakhstan to counter terrorist financing was the aim of a three-day train-the-trainers course organized by the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department, the OSCE Programme Office in Astana, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) Global Programme against Money Laundering, at the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna from 5 to 7 December 2017.

Following his constructive visit to Uzbekistan in November 2017, the OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger signed a Joint Commitment with Uzbekistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gayrat Fazilov in Vienna on 7 December 2017 to jointly implement a road map on enhanced co-operation between the OSCE and the country...

VIENNA, 7 December 2017 – Mainstreaming the Youth, Peace and Security agenda into policy development in the OSCE area and beyond was the focus of a side event organized today on the margins of the 24th OSCE Ministerial Council in Vienna by the Special Representatives of the Austrian Chairmanship-in-Office on Youth and Security...

VIENNA, 7 December 2017- On the occasion of the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Vienna, we the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries-- Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and French Permanent Representative Véronique Roger-Lacan-- remain united in our commitment to mediating a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the basis of the core principles of the Helsinki Final Act, including the non-use of force or threat of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples. We reiterate our joint commitment to negotiating a peaceful resolution to this conflict as the only way to bring real reconciliation to the peoples of the region...

Effective methods, tools and skills for communicating about human rights issues in the digital age were the focus of a capacity-building event for human rights defenders from across the OSCE region, which took place in Budapest from 5 to 7 December 2017. The event was organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), in partnership with the Central European University.

VIENNA, 7 December 2017 – Addressing foreign ministers at the OSCE’s 24th Ministerial Council in Vienna today, Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) noted the value and potential of the OSCE, stressing that governments should ensure that the organization is fully equipped to handle challenges facing the region.