News and press releases

DUSHANBE, 7 October 2016 – An OSCE-organized two-day training course for lawyers from OSCE-supported Women’s Resource Centres (WRCs) concluded today in Dushanbe. The course brought together some 18 participants with the aim of strengthening their knowledge of legal instruments and procedures to protect survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence and in facilitating their access to justice...

WARSAW/BERLIN, 7 October 2016 –Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and Gernot Erler, Special Representative of the German OSCE Chairmanship expressed their concern that the human rights group International Historical, Educational, Charitable and Human Rights Society “Memorial” was named a “foreign agent” by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation earlier this week...

BERLIN/VIENNA, 6 October 2016- Following the UN Security Council decision to appoint António Guterres as the new UN Secretary-General, OSCE Chairperson-in Office and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier expressed their heartfelt congratulations and praised the choice. Steinmeier said he hoped for enormous support in the UN General Assembly, which would give Guterres a strong mandate for leadership of the United Nations...

VIENNA, 6 October 2016 – The OSCE Mediterranean Partnership is growing and youth should be a lead actor to take dialogue and co-operation forward, participants emphasized in the 2016 OSCE Mediterranean conference, which concluded today in Vienna...

The SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region as in the previous reporting period. In Luhansk region the number of ceasefire violations recorded, all during daytime, increased significantly for the second consecutive day. The SMM followed up on reports of shelling in Makiivka. 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. The SMM monitored the situation of civilians living near the contact line and of civilians queuing at entry-exit checkpoints. The SMM visited two border areas in Kharkiv. The Mission monitored the situation of internally displaced persons in Odessa and Donetsk regions...

On 4 October 2016, the OSCE Mission to Moldova hosted a roundtable discussion on the use of the State Innovative Policy as an instrument of development in the regions, with particular focus on the experience of Moldova’s autonomous region of Gagauzia...

BELGRADE, 6 October 2016 – Ambassador Andrea Orizio, an Italian career diplomat, assumed his duties as Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia...