News and press releases

VIENNA, 3 May 2018 – The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) opens today a Call for Candidacies for 18 fully-paid scholarships at the European Innovation Academy (EIA), one of the world’s leading summer entrepreneurship programmes for young professionals, students, recent graduates and young start-uppers...

KYIV, 3 May 2018 –Civilian workers maintaining the Donetsk Filtration Station and the civilian monitoring officers from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) currently facilitating their access must be protected, said the SMM Chief Monitor Ertugrul Apakan in Kyiv today...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM followed up on reports of civilian casualties in Yasne and Trudivski area of Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi district and observed fresh damage caused by gunfire in the Petrovskyi district of Donetsk city. An SMM unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) recorded soldiers pointing rifles and firing towards the UAV near Katerynivka; another UAV was jammed near Bohdanivka.* The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations inside the disengagement areas near Zolote and Petrivske. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere, including at border areas beyond government control in Luhansk region. The SMM observed weapons in violation in Roty and Klynove. The SMM continued to facilitate access to the Donetsk Filtration Station (DFS) for Voda Donbassa water company employees; it heard ceasefire violations in the general area despite security guarantees. It also continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to high-voltage power lines near Yuzhna-Lomuvatka. The Mission monitored gatherings marking International Labour Day in several regions of Ukraine. In Odessa, the SMM followed up on reports of an attack against the head of a pro-Maidan group...

ACCRA, 2 May 2018- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today issued the 2018 Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression, together with the other international rapporteurs on freedom of expression, at a high-level meeting organised by UNESCO in Accra, Ghana, to mark the World Press Freedom Day 2018 on 3 May. This year’s Joint Declaration focuses on “media independence and diversity in the digital age”...

THE HAGUE, 2 May 2018 – Internationally renowned experts, ministers, OSCE and UN representatives will gather on 31 May in Oslo, Norway, to debate the tools developed and promoted by the OSCE and its partner organizations on language policy as a means of conflict prevention...

Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs)...

VIENNA, 2 May 2018- The importance of national export control systems and deactivation programmes as essential instruments in preventing the destabilising accumulation and uncontrolled spread of small arms and light weapons (SALW) was emphasized by speakers at today’s OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation meeting in Vienna, held under Slovenia’s Chairmanship...