News and press releases

MINSK, 9 July 2017 – Austrian parliamentarian Christine Muttonen was elected to a second term as President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly today at the OSCE PA’s Annual Session in Minsk. Upon her re-election, the President thanked the Assembly for its support and pledged to continue the work that she has pursued since being elected in Tbilisi last year...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations, including fewer explosions, in Donetsk region compared with the previous reporting period. In Luhansk city the SMM heard two explosions. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas. The SMM’s access remained restricted there and elsewhere, including in Olenivka and twice near Kreminets where, on one occasion, an armed man pointed a rifle at the SMM and demanded it to wait.* The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Zaichenko. The SMM visited three border areas not controlled by the Government in Donetsk region...

ULAANBAATAR, 8 July 2017 – The first ever runoff in a presidential election in Mongolia, on 7 July, took place against a backdrop of legal uncertainty. Positively, the General Election Commission (GEC) issued clarifying regulations and administered the election in an efficient manner, and polling station staff facilitated voting on election day in a professional manner, the election observation mission from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said in a statement released today. The law was widely interpreted as prohibiting campaigning. Calling on voters to cast blank ballots in protest was a distinct feature of the runoff, the observers said...

DUSHANBE, 7 July 2017 – Ambassador Tuula Yrjölä, Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, met Tajikistan’s Foreign Minister Aslov Sirodjidin Muhridinovich in Dushanbe today. She gave an update on the transition of the “OSCE Office in Tajikistan” into the “OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe”, which came into effect on 1 July 2017, as mandated by the OSCE Permanent Council Decision 1251...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations, including more explosions, in Donetsk region, and more ceasefire violations, including a similar number of explosions, in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas. The SMM’s access remained restricted there and elsewhere.* In violation of the withdrawal lines, the SMM saw ten multiple launch rocket systems near Khrustalnyi. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to the Mykhailivka-Almazna high-voltage power lines near Pervomaisk and repair works to water wells in the Stanytsia Luhanska area. The SMM visited one border area not controlled by the Government in Luhansk region...

Thirteen human rights defenders from across Ukraine took part in a train-the-trainers workshop on human rights monitoring organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) from 3 to 7 July 2017 in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), in co-operation with the OSCE Austrian Chairmanship, organized two separate meetings in Vienna on addressing the security needs of Jewish communities, on 6 and 7 July 2017. The 6 July event brought together Austrian