News and press releases

VIENNA, 12 May 2017 – The safety and security of the unarmed civilian monitors of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine – and of the wider civilian population in eastern Ukraine – must be prioritized by the sides to the conflict, said the Chief Monitor of the OSCE SMM to Ukraine, Ertugrul Apakan, in his address to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna yesterday.

VIENNA, 12 May 2017 – High-level diplomats and experts from across the OSCE region met at the Hofburg today to exchange best practices and discuss ways to stamp out human trafficking for domestic servitude in diplomatic households.

VIENNA, 12 May 2016 – High-level diplomats and experts from across the OSCE region met at the Hofburg today to exchange best practices and discuss ways to stamp out human trafficking for domestic servitude in diplomatic households.

BRČKO, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 12 May 2017 – An OSCE-supported course on Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)’s security policy, focusing on the prevention of terrorism and the role of local communities, concluded today in Brčko. The course was organized by the OSCE Mission to BiH and the Council of Ministers’ Inter-ministerial Working Group on Monitoring the Implementation of BiH Security Policy...

The OSCE Mission to Moldova launched a series of 15 public lectures on 2 May 2017 aimed at promoting gender equality and combating domestic violence in Moldova. The public lectures, organized with the support of Moldova’s Ministry of Education, will be held throughout the year in 13 separate locations across the country, including the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia. Some 900 students and teachers of vocational schools are expected to attend...

WARSAW, 11 May 2017 – Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), today condemned the murders of three Roma sisters, ages four, eight and 20, who died in a fire after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at their camper van on the outskirts of Rome early Wednesday morning...

The SMM’s operations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained restricted following the fatal incident of 23 April near Pryshyb; these restrictions continued to limit the Mission’s observations. The Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM followed up on reports of shelling and civilian casualties in the Kuibyshevskyi district of “DPR”-controlled Donetsk city and shelling in “DPR”-controlled Bezimenne. The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. Its access remained restricted there and elsewhere.* The Mission observed public gatherings in Dnipro and Odessa...