News and press releases

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area. It observed multiple launch rocket systems in violation of agreed withdrawal lines near Khrustalnyi, Miusynsk and Malynivka. The Mission’s access remained restricted in the disengagement areas, as well as again near Zaichenko and Novoazovsk, near the border with the Russian Federation.* The SMM continued to facilitate the process of restarting operations at the Donetsk Filtration Station, following a power outage. The SMM continued to monitor repairs and maintenance work to water infrastructure in Stanytsia Luhanska and Artema, and to facilitate demining and repairs at the Krasnohorivka gas distribution station between Marinka and Oleksandrivka and houses in Avdiivka. The SMM followed up on reports that protective masks had been distributed in southern Kherson region in response to hazardous chemical air pollution from a chemical plant on the Crimean peninsula.

VIENNA, 14 September 2018 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, welcomed yesterday’s highly significant decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which found that the United Kingdom’s Investigatory Powers Act threatened the confidentiality of journalists’ sources. The Representative previously warned of the potential threat to journalists posed by this law.

VIENNA, 14 September 2018- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, to express his concerns about the seizure of a journalist’s phone and computer, as well as to recall the necessity to respect the protection of journalistic sources and to enquire whether the seizure respected national and international standards.

WARSAW, 13 September 2018 – More must be done to promote the participation of under-represented groups in political decision making if we are to ensure effective, truly democratic governance and societies, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said today, ahead of tomorrow’s International Day of Democracy.

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro donated a forensic workstation set and two polygraphs, €52.000 worth, to the Montenegrin Police Directorate within the Interior Ministry on 14 September 2018 in Podgorica...

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Lamberto Zannier, visited Ukraine from 11 to 14 September 2018, as a follow-up to his previous visits to Kyiv in December 2017 and the Zakarpattia region in February 2018. During the meetings with the Government and the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv...

The very limited progress in implementing government strategies and policies for Roma inclusion remains a major obstacle to their inclusion, participants said at an event in Warsaw on 14 September 2018. The lack of progress is coupled with negative public and political discourse, persistent discrimination and growing manifestations of intolerance and racially motivated violence against Roma and Sinti in the OSCE area.