News and press releases

WARSAW, 5 April 2017 – Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), today expressed grave concern over elements of amendments adopted to Hungary’s higher education law that could have a serious negative affect on the ability of the Central European University in Budapest to operate...

Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall number of border crossings by persons decreased at both BCPs...

ERGNETI, 4 April 2017- The 76th meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) was held in Ergneti. Ambassador Guenther Baechler, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus, and Kestutis Jankauskas, Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), co-facilitated the proceedings...

Vienna, 4 April 2017 –OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Madina Jarbussynova brought the 17th high-level conference of the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons to a close today by urging all participants to adopt a regional and multi-stakeholder response to better combat child trafficking and secure the best interests of all children, regardless of status or background.

The positive role religious figures and institutions can play in conflict prevention and peace building was the theme of an expert workshop co-hosted by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) in Vienna on 3 and 4 April 2017.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous 24-hour period, but fewer compared with the period before the recommitment to the ceasefire. The Mission followed up on a report of a civilian casualty in Marinka. The Mission monitored the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, but its access there and elsewhere remained restricted.* The Mission observed weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines. The SMM followed up on reports of vandalism against bank branches in Odessa...

COPENHAGEN, 3 April 2017 – Following an attack in St. Petersburg today that is being investigated by the Russian authorities as an act of terrorism, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s President, Austrian parliamentarian Christine Muttonen, offered condolences and strongly condemned the violence...