News and press releases

A four-day seminar organized by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan on explosive hazards training management opened at the Office’s premises in Dushanbe on 29 March 2016...

BERLIN, 29 March 2016- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is to depart for Central Asia this evening, where he will visit the OSCE participating States of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan from 30 March to 1 April. He will hold talks with political leaders and meet representatives of civil society in all three countries...

The SMM observed a high number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region, mostly in the Yasynuvata-Avdiivka area. In Luhansk region the situation remained relatively calm and a low number of ceasefire violations was recorded. The Mission continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons. The SMM observed the marking of mined areas in the security zone. It facilitated and monitored the retrieval of the body of a Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman. The Mission reached four border crossing points in areas not controlled by the Government. The SMM encountered freedom of movement restrictions in areas not controlled by the Government.* In Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv and Odessa the SMM observed public demonstrations...

COPENHAGEN, 29 March 2016 – The Chairperson of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), and the OSCE PA Special Representative on the South Caucasus, Kristian Vigenin (MP, Bulgaria), today welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan to release on probation Intigam Aliyev, a prominent human rights lawyer...

ASTANA, 29 March 2016 – A two-day training seminar organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana in co-operation with the Financial Monitoring Committee (FMC) of Kazakhstan’s Finance Ministry began today in Astana with a focus on detecting terrorism financing through money transfer systems...

The SMM observed an increase in ceasefire violations around Donetsk city and in the Yasynuvata-Avdiivka area compared with 25 March. The situation in Luhansk region remained calm with no ceasefire violations recorded. The Mission observed the presence of mines and unexploded ordnance, and the marking off of mined areas in the security zone. It reached three border crossing points not controlled by the Government. The SMM faced a number of restrictions of its freedom of movement on both sides of the contact line...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 28 March 2016 – A five-day OSCE-supported training seminar for Kazakhstan’s Border Guards on document integrity and advanced methods to detect document forgery as well as potential impostors began today in Almaty, Kazakhstan...