News and press releases

In Donetsk region the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations between the night of 2 December and the evening of 3 December compared with the previous reporting period, and fewer on 4 December. In Luhansk region the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations on both 3 and 4 December compared with the previous reporting period. It continued to face restrictions of its movement in the disengagement areas in Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, as well as in other areas. The SMM followed up on reports of a civilian casualty in Horlivka and damage to civilian infrastructure in Luhanske and Horlivka. The Mission continued to note long queues at entry-exit checkpoints on both sides of the contact line. It facilitated and monitored repair works near the Donetsk water filtration station. It monitored two border areas not controlled by the Government. In Kherson the SMM noted a calm situation at the administrative boundary line between mainland Ukraine and Crimea...

WARSAW / STRASBOURG, 5 December 2016 – European human rights officials today expressed serious concern over legal amendments passed last week in the Polish Sejm that could undermine the right to freedom of assembly if they become law...

VIENNA, 5 December 2016 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about a recent ruling by a Spanish judge to stop the daily newspaper El Mundo from publishing a story on an investigation into the tax affairs of soccer professionals...

The implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the context of recent constitutional and legal developments in Armenia was the theme of a workshop held by the OSCE office in Yerevan on 2 December 2016 in co-operation with Armenia’s Ministry of Nature Protection and the Centre of Economical-Legal Analysis (CELA)...

A two-day training course for youth on tackling gender stereotypes and further supporting the advancement of women and girls in all spheres of public and political life concluded on 2 December 2016 at the OSCE Office in Tajikistan...

VIENNA, 5 December 2016 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today said she was deeply saddened upon learning of the murder of two Finnish journalists and a politician in Imatra, eastern Finland, late on Saturday evening...

TASHKENT, 5 December 2016 – The 4 December presidential election in Uzbekistan underscored the need for comprehensive reforms to address long-standing procedural and systematic shortcomings, including to a legal framework that is not conducive to holding genuine democratic elections, the election observation mission from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) concluded in a preliminary statement released today...