News and press releases

VIENNA, 26 January 2018 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today, in a letter to Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, called on the Russian Parliament not to adopt the draft law that through amendments to the “Statute on the Mass Media” extends the status of a "foreign agent" to individuals...

Handling digital evidence by first responders was the focus of a one-week train-the-trainer course for South-Eastern Europe’s criminal justice institutions, which took place from 22 to 26 January 2018 at the Albanian Security Academy in Tirana...

Countering transnational threats through the organization of risk profiling during sea vessel searches was the focus of an OSCE-supported five-day training course that concluded in Aktau, Kazakhstan on 26 January 2018.

An OSCE-supported forum to discuss opportunities for attracting investments in Kazakhstan’s waste recycling sector and exchange best practices and technologies in the field was held on 26 January 2018 in Almaty. Some 60 representatives of central and local governments, regional waste recycling companies, environmental experts, civil society, international organizations and national businesses participated in the two-day event.

VIENNA, 26 January 2018 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia), met today with the newly elected President of the “Austrian Nationalrat”, the Austrian Parliament, Wolfgang Sobotka, for talks that focused on challenges to the OSCE area and Austria’s contributions to the OSCE and the Parliamentary Assembly. While in Vienna Tsereteli also met with the OSCE’s Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Desir, to discuss work in the field of media freedom issues....

VIENNA, 25 January 2018 –The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today condemned recent attacks against Turkish Cypriot newspaper Afrika’s Office in Nicosia.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region compared with the previous reporting period and one ceasefire violation in Luhansk region (as in the previous reporting period). The Mission continued to follow up on reports of civilian casualties in Olenivka and followed up on new reports of civilian casualties in Dokuchaievsk and of civilians injured from mishandling of unexploded ordnance in Donetsk city and Verkhnotoretske. In Dokuchaievsk, the SMM also saw damage caused by gunfire to a residential building. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, where it observed calm situations. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere.* The SMM facilitated and monitored repairs of essential infrastructure in Krasnyi Lyman. The Mission visited three border areas not under government control.