News and press releases

VIENNA, 20 July 2019 – On the third anniversary of the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet in Ukraine, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today reiterated his call on the Ukrainian authorities to step up their efforts in ending impunity for attacks on and murders of journalists...

VIENNA, 19 July 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, welcomed today the court decision in Turkey handing down prison sentences to seven people over the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink...

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. • The SMM followed up on reports of a man injured by a mine explosion in Pryvitne. • It saw damage to a residential house in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. • Inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area, the SMM continued to observe demining activities by the State Emergency Services of Ukraine and the operation of a shuttle bus service. • The Mission saw weapons in violations of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line in Luhansk region. • The Mission saw long queues at checkpoints of the armed formations along the contact line. • The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to facilitate repairs of critical civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line. • Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued, including at checkpoints in non-government-controlled areas of southern Donetsk region near Zaichenko and Novolaspa.*

The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe trained some 320 representatives of local governments, teachers, parents from migrant families and people whose relatives have travelled to conflict zones as foreign terrorist fighters as part of a whole-of-society approach to tackling violent extremism and terrorist radicalization among youth in Tajikistan. The training courses were conducted in 12 districts of the Sughd and Khatlon regions from 24 June to 18 July 2019...

SARAJEVO, 18 July 2019 – A workshop on identifying victims of human trafficking in migration flows concluded today in Sarajevo. Organized jointly by the OSCE Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (OSR/CTHB) and the OSCE’s field operations in South-Eastern Europe, the workshop focused on implementing the OSCE’s uniform guidelines to identify victims of human trafficking...

BRATISLAVA, 18 July 2019- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Slovak Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Miroslav Lajčák welcomed the new recommitment to an unlimited ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, starting from 21 July at 00 hrs. 01 min. (Kyiv time), as agreed at the meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group held in Minsk on 17 July.

ERGNETI, 18 July 2019- The 94th Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting was held today in Ergneti. Erik Høeg, Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), and Ambassador Rudolf Michalka, Special Representative for the South Caucasus of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, co-facilitated the meeting....