News and press releases

Over the weekend in Donetsk region, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations, compared to 15 July, with violence focused in the Avdiivka/Yasynuvata area and the northern outskirts of Donetsk as well as the Shyrokyne area. In Luhansk region, the Mission also recorded fewer ceasefire violations than on 15 July, with the only violence noted taking place near Shchastia. The SMM conducted crater analysis and followed up on reports of civilian casualties in Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi district. It continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons and facilitated the recovery of the body of a dead man. It monitored border areas not controlled by the Government and encountered restrictions on two occasions. The Mission’s freedom of movement was restricted on six other occasions, five of which occurred in areas not controlled by the Government...*

The OSCE Mission to Moldova organized a summer school on 15-17 July 2016 for 25 lawyers from both banks of the Dniester/Nistru River aimed at enhancing their ability to represent individuals who have been subject to discrimination. The summer school was held at Vadul-lui-Vodă, a town by the river...

On 18 July 2016 the Observation Team (OT) of the Observation Mission at the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP) observed a Russian Federation Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) truck (a white Kamaz with official black registration plates) entering Donetsk BCP at 05:15 from the Russian Federation side...

Montenegro, on 15 June 2016, became the 34th State party to the Convention on Conciliation and Arbitration within the OSCE. The Convention provides mechanisms for the peaceful settlement of disputes between States parties to the Convention and/or OSCE participating States...

COPENHAGEN, 18 July 2016 – In response to the attempted coup in Turkey and subsequent developments in the country, Ignacio Sanchez Amor (MP, Spain), Chairperson of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, today issued the following statement...

KYIV, 17 July 2016 – The Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan, today on the second anniversary of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 tragedy, said that disaster once again reminds all of us of the heavy toll that civilians pay in the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, and in all armed conflicts...

VIENNA, 16 July 2016 – OSCE media freedom representative Dunja Mijatović today said she was deeply saddened upon learning of the death of photojournalist Mustafa Cambaz in Turkey, and worried about the state of media freedom in the country...