News and press releases

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued to monitor the disengagement areas in Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske and was restricted in its movement.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines and others missing from assigned areas. It monitored repair works to electric power lines between Avdiivka and Yasynuvata. It monitored the situation of civilians at entry-exit crossing points. The SMM monitored one border area currently outside government control...

COPENHAGEN, 10 December 2016 – Leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee today marked Human Rights Day with calls for a greater commitment to fundamental freedoms and basic rights across the OSCE area...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period...

HAMBURG, Germany, 9 December 2016 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today condemned the murder of journalist Martin Kok who was shot dead near Amsterdam yesterday evening...

“In the wake of the current confrontation between Russia and the West, will the nations of Europe govern their interactions by rules and principles, as the signatories of the Helsinki Final Act hoped, or by the conjuncture or clash of national interests?” This was the leading question of a study conducted by the OSCE Network of Think Tanks and Academic Institutions presented at a side event of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg on 8 December 2016.

HAMBURG, 9 December 2016 – The protection of human rights defenders is essential for OSCE participating States to realize their human dimension commitments in practice, Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said today at the close of the 23rd OSCE Ministerial Council, in advance of international Human Rights Day on 10 December...

An OSCE-supported three-day training seminar for police officers on psychological profiling techniques to be used when policing large-scale events concluded in Astana, Kazakhstan on 9 December 2016...