News and press releases

An OSCE-supported workshop on open budget data for the Sustainable Development Goals concluded on 13 September 2019 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

WARSAW, 16 September 2019 – The OSCE today presented a report focusing on experiences of disadvantaged groups of women at the OSCE annual human rights conference, the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, in Warsaw. The report provides a detailed picture of violence experienced by disadvantaged women in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe.

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 13 and 14 September, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and   fewer in Luhansk region. Between the evenings of 14 and 15 September, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk

WARSAW, 16 September 2019 – Four decades after the Helsinki Final Act, the struggle to respect and promote human rights and human security remains a challenge in the OSCE area, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli said at the opening of the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw today. Noting that the past decade has represented a downward trend, Tsereteli stressed that the human dimension requires increased dedication and focus by all...

In order to improve media professionals and students of journalism knowledge of media literacy, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro is organizing a six-day training course from 16 to 21 September 2019, in Podgorica, for 20 participants from the office of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms (Ombudsman), the Agency for Electronic Media and journalism students...

Under-representation of people with disabilities in political and public life and examples of positive practice contributing to more inclusive parliaments, political parties and democratic institutions were discussed at a side event organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human

WARSAW, 16 September 2019 – The velvet revolutions that swept Central Eastern Europe 30 years ago gave rise to a time of optimism that we need to recapture as threats to our democracies multiply, key speakers stressed as the annual human rights conference* hosted by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) opened in Warsaw today.

From 10 to 12 September 2019, the first Eurasian Forum for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) took place in Issyk-Kul province, Kyrgyzstan. The State Financial Intelligence Service under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic (SFIS) and the Eurasian group on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism (EAG) organized this forum with the support of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek and the United Nations Office on Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT). 

Tajikistan’s Interior Minister, Colonel-General Rahimzoda Ramazon, senior-ranking ministry officials, representatives of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, and the United Nations Development Programme in Tajikistan (UNDP) participated in the official inauguration of a new gender sensitive police unit and an office for the district’s public council on 10 September 2019 in the Muminobod District.

The ongoing closure of crossing points on the administrative boundary line with South Ossetia is creating additional hardship for the local people and is further raising tensions.

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The Mission followed up on reports of an injury caused to a woman in Staromykhailivka and saw damage to civilian houses due to shelling in the settlement.

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. Inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area, the Mission saw workers from government-controlled areas conduct demining and clearing debris north of and

An OSCE-supported training seminar for representatives of the legal profession on the qualified legal protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms concluded on 14 September 2019 in Almaty, Kazakhstan...

VIENNA, 13 September 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, expressed his relief after the sentences of seven former Cumhuriyet journalists were reversed in Turkey yesterday.

International rule of law standards related to the court management and independence of the judiciary were the topic of a training seminar organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) together with Belarusian judicial institutions on 13 September 2019 in Minsk.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic for Security and Multilateral Affairs, Martin Povejšil presented the priorities of the Czech Chair of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation on 11 September 2019 in Vienna.

The mission members of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan were recognized today at a ceremony at the mission office, acknowledging their contribution to the recent presentation of a State Award to the Project Co-ordinator by H.E. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan. Twenty-eight staff members received recognition certificates at the afternoon event, with the remainder of the staff getting theirs upon their return from various travel-related duties...

The mission members of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan were recognized today at a ceremony at the mission office, acknowledging their contribution to the recent presentation of a State Award to the Project Co-ordinator by H.E. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan. Twenty-eight staff members received recognition certificates at the afternoon event, with the remainder of the staff getting theirs upon their return from various travel-related duties...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. A man was injured due to a mine explosion near Ternove and a woman was injured due to shelling in Roza. Inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area,

A co-ordination conference for the Western Balkans region on preventing document fraud was held on 11 and 12 September 2019 in Vienna, organized by the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department in close co-operation with the FRONTEX Center of Excellence for Combating Document Fraud.

The OSCE-supported regional capacity building training for the Regional Youth Co-operation Office (RYCO) beneficiaries to be supported within the second RYCO Open Call for Project Proposals, is taking place in Podgorica from 12 to 16 September 2019...

Promoting regional trade and co-operation in the Central Asian region is an important part of the OSCE’s confidence building in the area of economic and environmental activities. Over 1,500 entrepreneurs arrived in Osh to participate at the third international trade exhibition “South-Expo”, a two-day event that concluded on 12 September 2019...

PRAGUE, 11 September 2019 – New and emerging technologies in relation to energy security, good governance and connectivity in the digital era, are the focus of 27th OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum which opened today in Prague...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The SMM saw damage to civilian houses due to shelling in Roza and damage to a school and a kindergarten in Kozatske. Inside the Stanytsia Luhanska

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro donated forensic equipment valued at €33,700 to the Forensic Centre in Danilovgrad on 11 September 2019...

Summary Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. One woman was reportedly killed and another injured by an explosive device in Spartak. A house was damaged by small-arms fire in Novoluhanske. Inside the Stanytsia

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 compared to the previous week...

WARSAW, 10 September 2019 – The nomination and appointment of Supreme Court Judges in Georgia is lacking transparency and accountability despite some positive measures to build public trust in the judiciary, according to a new report from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

A two-day roundtable discussion on the 2017-2019 National Action Plan (NAP) on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1540 on effective measures against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is taking place from 9 to 11 September 2019 in the Issyk-Kul province, Kyrgyzstan...

BRATISLAVA, 9 September 2019 – Some 160 representatives, policy makers and national security advisers from OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation, as well as experts and practitioners from international and regional organizations and academia, attended today in Bratislava the fourth thematic conference of the 2019 Slovak OSCE Chair, which focused on Security Sector Governance and Reform (SSG/R). In particular, the conference sought to unpack the role of SSG/R in preventing conflict, sustaining peace and promoting comprehensive security for all.

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 6 and 7 September, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and   more in Luhansk region. Between the evenings of 7 and 8 September, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and

• An opening press conference by the ODIHR observers to the parliamentary elections in Poland. • An introduction to the role of the mission in the elections and its planned activities. • The press conference is open to all and no accreditation is required to enter, but only questions from journalists will be taken. • English-Polish interpretation will be provided...

The OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek supported a roundtable discussion on the development of inclusive employment processes for persons with disabilities (PwD) in the state and municipal service in Bishkek on 6 September 2019.

An OSCE-supported training seminar on combatting human trafficking concluded on 6 September 2019 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Some 28 representatives of the flag carrier “Air Astana” and the Education Centres of the Committee of Civil Aviation of the Republic of Kazakhstan from the cities of Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Aktau and Shymkent participated in the event.

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. A woman was injured by small-arms fire in Novoluhanske. An explosion occurred near the SMM in Yasynuvata. An SMM mini-UAV spotted houses burned by shelling in

VIENNA, 7 September 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, welcomed today’s release of Ukrainian film director and writer Oleg Sentsov from Crimea, of the correspondent of the Ukrainian National News Agency, Ukrinform, Roman Sushchenko, and of journalist Kirill Vyshinsky, the chief of the RIA Novosti Ukraina office in Kyiv, as a result of the exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine...

BRATISLAVA/VIENNA, 7 September 2019- The OSCE Chair and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajčák, and OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger welcomed today’s conclusion of an exchange of detainees between the Russian Federation and Ukraine...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and  more in Luhansk region. Inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area the Mission saw the removal of concrete barriers and the widening of the road approaching the bridge. The

VIENNA, 6 September 2019 – A recommitment to the unlimited ceasefire that started on 21 July is a major contributing factor towards the improvement of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, SMM Chief Monitor Yaşar Halit Çevik said yesterday in his address to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna...

NUR-SULTAN, 6 September 2019- OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Lamberto Zannier is concluding today his first official visit to Kazakhstan since taking up his mandate...

Following Albania’s local elections on 30 June 2019, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has published its final report. While voting was conducted in a generally peaceful and orderly manner, the elections were held with little regard for the interests of the

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and a similar number of ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. While conducting an impact site assessment in Pikuzy, the Mission heard small-arms fire and saw a bullet impact the

A four-day study visit to Copenhagen and Malmo organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan in co-operation with the Nordic Council of Ministers concluded on 5 September. Representatives of the municipality of Tashkent responsible for urban and mobility planning and members of the Cycling Federation of Uzbekistan had a chance to learn best practices of sustainable city mobility planning.

On 3 September 2019, some 40 representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakh-stan, police, NGOs and representatives of the diplomatic corps participated in an event on inclusive and effective community policing in multi-ethnic societies. The event took place in the framework of the visit to Kazakhstan of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Mi-norities, Lamberto Zannier.

On 4 September, an SMM patrol consisting of six people and two armoured vehicles was conducting an impact site assessment at Akhmatovoi Street in the north-eastern part of Pikuzy (formerly Kominternove, non-government-controlled, 23km north-east of Mariupol)...

MINSK, 4 September 2019 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group, Ambassador Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG and its working groups in Minsk on 4 September 2019:...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. The SMM saw that the former forward positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and of the armed formations inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area

BRATISLAVA, 4 September 2019 –A three-day advanced training course exploring the connection between security sector governance and reform (SSG/R) and border security management, hosted by the Slovak OSCE Chairmanship, concluded today.

GENEVA, Switzerland, 4 September 2019 –The wide array of regionally and internationally available security standards, instruments, technologies and methodologies at the disposal of governments to address the critical security risks faced by their inland transport systems was the focus of a joint OSCE-UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Inland Transport Security Discussion Forum on Strengthening Security on Inland Freight Routes that ended today in Geneva...

Summary Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Mission observed multiple craters and projectiles in flight in Pikuzy. The SMM saw that the former forward positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and of the armed