News and press releases

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) launched two new publications on election observation at an event in Warsaw on 12 September 2017, during the annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting. The publications are part of the Office’s efforts to develop and refine

Warsaw, 12 September 2017- Following last night's court decision denying the release of six Cumhuriyet journalists and executives, Harlem Désir, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and David Kaye, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, emphasized the urgent need to restore media freedom and freedom of expression in Turkey...

WARSAW, 11 September 2017 – Dialogue and the open exchange of ideas among countries and with civil society are vital to democracy and the promotion of human rights, speakers said today at the opening of the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw...

WARSAW, 11 September 2017 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today welcomed the release of prominent Azerbaijani journalist and media expert Mehman Aliyev...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions between the evenings of 8 and 9 September compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 9 and 10 September the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24 hours. It followed up on a report of a casualty in Yasynuvata. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including in non-government-controlled Michurine.* The Mission saw a weapon in violation of withdrawal lines near government-controlled Mykolaivka. The SMM observed long queues at checkpoints on the contact line. It visited a border area outside government control in Luhansk region. It monitored gatherings in Lviv region connected to the announced return of Mikhail Saakashvili to Ukraine...

The SMM recorded more 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. Its access remained restricted there and elsewhere, including in Verkhnoshyrokivske.* The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. It facilitated and monitored mine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance, co-ordinated by the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC), enabling the SMM to pass along the M03 road between Svitlodarsk and Debaltseve. The Mission monitored and facilitated a transfer of funds from non-government to government-controlled areas in Luhansk region. It facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of essential infrastructure in Shchastia and to the Artema-Petrivske pumping station. The SMM visited one border area not under government control.

CHISINAU, 8 September 2017 – The Special Representative of the Austrian OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian Settlement Process, Ambassador Wolf Dietrich Heim, concluded today his fifth visit to the region...