News and press releases

The OSCE Programme Office in Astana held its second training seminar in 2016 on anti-torture standards for some 30 judges from regional courts on 17 October 2016...

ASTANA, 17 October 2016 – An OSCE-supported roundtable discussion in Astana, Kazakhstan today on proposed changes to national legislation on countering extremism and terrorism brought together some 40 parliamentarians, high-level representatives of the National Security Committee, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Supreme Court, Ministries of the Interior, Justice, Education and Science, international and national experts, and academics...

Some 16 representatives of the Parliamentary services and secretaries of the Montenegrin Parliament Committees successfully completed the last in a series of an OSCE-supported programme, aimed at strengthening their leadership, interpersonal and communication skills, from 13 to 14 October 2015 in Podgorica...

ULAANBAATAR, 17 October 2016 – A one-week intensive training course for Mongolian law enforcement personnel aimed at increasing their operational awareness to detect forged travel documents started today in Ulaanbaatar. This is the first of a series of trainings courses organized by the OSCE on detecting forged documents that will take place every autumn in Mongolia over the next five years to 2020...

Relations between the judiciary and the media, international standards on freedom of speech, the legal basis and particularity of defamation cases, as well as media access to courts were the focus of an OSCE-supported workshop for some 35 judges, lawyers and journalists which concluded on 15 October 2016 in Dushanbe...

In the morning of 16 October, from several positions in both government-controlled Zolote (60km north-west of Luhansk) and government-controlled Katerynivka (64km west of Luhansk), an SMM patrol composed of five members observed a steady exchange of fire ranging 4-6km east of all positions. The SMM heard over 60 explosions assessed as caused by mortar (82mm and 120mm) rounds, and sporadic bursts of automatic-grenade-launcher (AGS-17, 30mm) and heavy-machine-gun fire for over one hour and a half.

The SMM recorded a significant increase in ceasefire violations in Donetsk region compared with the day before, the vast majority of which occurred in areas north-east of Mariupol. In Luhansk region more explosions were recorded compared with the day before. The Mission continued to monitor the disengagement process in Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; the SMM was restricted in its freedom of movement in all three areas.* It followed up on reports of civilian casualties. The SMM observed the presence and movement of multiple armoured vehicles in government-controlled parts of Luhansk region. An unknown person threw an explosive device at the building housing the SMM office in Ivano-Frankivsk. The SMM observed a number of marches and events across Ukraine marking the “Day of the Defender”.