News and press releases

An OSCE-supported three-day training course aimed at enhancing journalists’ skills in covering security issues concluded on 23 April 2017 in the village of Bulan-Sogutuu, in the Issyk-Kul province of Kyrgyzstan...

Legal professionals from seven OSCE field operations and representatives of 29 NGOs from the OSCE region exchanged experiences in trial monitoring at a meeting co-organized by ODIHR and the OSCE Mission to Skopje from 24 to 26 April 2017 in Skopje.

NICOSIA, 25 April 2017 – At an OSCE-led meeting in Nicosia today, representatives of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot journalists, together with international media freedom experts, discussed ways to enhance their co-operation, and adopted a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)...

The SMM conducted limited patrolling in Donetsk and Luhansk regions following the serious security incident that involved an SMM patrol on 23 April in Pryshyb, which affected its observations, including of ceasefire violations. The SMM observed about 40 ceasefire violations in Donetsk, including about 35 explosions, and about 220 ceasefire violations in Luhansk region, including two explosions. The SMM camera in Stanytsia Luhanska recorded ceasefire violations assessed as inside the disengagement area. Aerial imagery revealed weapons in violations of the withdrawal lines. The Mission monitored a border area currently not under government control. The SMM monitored the continuation of protests at branches of Sberbank of Russia in Kyiv, Odessa and Kharkiv...

WARSAW, 25 April 2017 – Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and Professor Ingeborg Gabriel, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, also focusing on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians and Members of Other Religions, today expressed serious concern over the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to declare the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ national headquarters and all local communities “extremist” and to ban their activities with immediate effect...

SARAJEVO, 25 April 2017 – A group of 12 young people from the Western Balkans region participated in a two-day workshop and discussed their role in prevention of violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism, which concluded today in Sarajevo...

An SMM patrol member died and two more were taken to hospital after an explosion severely damaged an SMM vehicle near Pryshyb, possibly after the vehicle came into contact with a mine. Between the evenings of 21 and 22 April the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 22 and 23 April the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24-hour period. The Mission saw damage in Novooleksandrivka, Katerynivka, Dokuchaievsk and Syhnalne. The SMM monitored the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, but its access there and elsewhere remained restricted.* It observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM saw mines and unexploded ordnance in populated areas. The Mission monitored three border areas currently not under government control...