News and press releases

VENICE, Italy, 24 May 2018 – Economic progress and security in the OSCE area through innovation, human capital development and good public and corporate governance were the focus of the two-day Second Preparatory Meeting of the Economic and Environmental Forum which opened today in Venice...

The first OSCE Model workshop concluded on Wednesday, 23 May 2018 in Banja Luka. Over 25 participants from Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the host-country Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) gathered to enhance their theoretical and practical knowledge about the history, role and functioning of the OSCE, its Permanent Council and field operations, particularly with regards to conflict prevention.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM followed up on reports of a casualty in Marinka near the contact line. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, where it recorded ceasefire violations inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area and near the Zolote and Petrivske disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including at a checkpoint in Verkhnoshyrokivske.* The SMM continued to facilitate the access of Voda Donbassa water company employees and others to the Donetsk Filtration System to assess damage and facilitate repair works which were completed by 17:00. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to high-voltage power lines near Yuzhna-Lomuvatka, Almazna, and Veselohorivka. The Mission also monitored a gathering in Kharkiv in front of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation.

STRASBOURG, France, 23 May 2018 – Co-organized by the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (OSR/CTHB), a meeting of National Anti-Trafficking Co-ordinators and Rapporteurs from across the OSCE regional framework concluded at the Palais de l’Europe today...

VIENNA, 23 May 2018 – The importance of nuclear security was emphasized by speakers at today’s OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) meeting in Vienna, held under Slovenia’s Chairmanship. The meeting was a follow-up to the OSCE Decision on the Update of the OSCE Principles Governing Non-proliferation, which designates the FSC as a forum for discussions on issues relating to the effective security of all nuclear materials and nuclear facilities in the OSCE area...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24 hours. The Mission heard small-arms fire 100m from its position near Kriakivka. Small-arms fire hit an SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle which fell to the ground near Vesela Hora.* The SMM observed fresh damage caused by shelling in Avdiivka. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations inside the Petrivske disengagement area and explosions assessed as rounds of multiple launch rocket system near the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area.

A two-day discussion-based tabletop exercise on how to respond to a simulated wildfire in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone organized by the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, in close partnership with the Global Fire Monitoring Center, was held on 17 and 18 May 2018 in the city of Gomel in Belarus near the border with Ukraine...

KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKIY, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall number of border crossings by persons increased at both BCPs. On 16 May, a delegation of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs visited the Mission area...

KYIV, 22 May 2018 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group, Ambassador Martin Sajdik, issued today the following statement:...

The public presentation of the Report on the Activities of Kazakhstan’s Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) in 2017 took place with OSCE support on 22 May 2018 in Astana...

Representatives of Turkmenistan’s State Committee for Television, Radio and Cinematography, lawmakers, journalists and officials from relevant ministries and research and educational institutions discussed broadcasting regulation and new models of broadcasting at an OSCE-supported seminar. The event took place in Ashgabat on 21 and 22 May 2018...

A roundtable discussion on the implementation of Advance Passenger Information (API) in Kyrgyzstan, organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek and the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security, was held on 15 and 16 May 2018, in Bishkek...

Preventing torture and the role of Poland’s national preventive mechanism was the focus of a roundtable event organized in Warsaw by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Poland on 22 May 2018.

At 11:57 on 21 May, an SMM patrol consisting of five SMM members and two armoured vehicles was positioned on the western edge of Kriakivka (government-controlled, 38km north-west of Luhansk). Four patrol members were inside the vehicles and one member was outside when the patrol members heard four shots of small-arms fire approximately 100m south. The patrol could not determine the direction of fire.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region between the evenings of 18 and 19 May compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 19 and 20 May, it recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more ceasefire violations in Luhansk regions compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM observed damage caused by gunfire to civilian properties in Pikuzy and Kriakivka. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it heard an explosion inside the Zolote disengagement area 300-500m from SMM patrols.

VIENNA, 21 May 2018 – Today the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, welcomed the dropping of defamation claims against the now-defunct Kyrgyz media outlet Zanoza.kg, and its journalists Dina Maslova and Naryn Ayyp, by the former president Almazbek Atambaev...

The first in a series of training courses on anti-trafficking for investigators and operative agents of Uzbekistan police forces was held in Urgench from the 14 to 18 of May 2018...

At 11:04 on 20 May, two SMM patrols consisting of ten members and four armoured vehicles positioned themselves about 20m south of a checkpoint of the armed formations inside the disengagement area near Zolote (government-controlled, 60km west of Luhansk) on its southern edge. All patrol members were outside the vehicles, five of whom were speaking with two unarmed members of the armed formations, and saw an additional five to eight members of the armed formations (one armed with an assault rifle (AK-type), the remainder unarmed) walking around the checkpoint inside the disengagement area. At 11:06, the patrol members heard an undetermined explosion 300-500m north (assessed as inside the disengagement area)...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM observed fresh damage caused by shelling in residential areas in Luhansk city, Sakhanka and Svitlodarsk. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near all three disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including in Shevchenko.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in Vidrodzhennia and Klynove. The Mission facilitated access to assess damage to the Donetsk Filtration Station. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to high-voltage power lines near Almazna and to a water pipeline in Obozne. In Kyiv and Kharkiv, the Mission monitored gatherings marking the 1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatars...

KYIV, 18 May 2018 – The deteriorating security situation in the wider area around the Donetsk Filtration Station poses a threat to the facility, its workers and monitoring officers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), said the SMM’s Chief Monitor Ertugrul Apakan today...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous reporting period; it recorded explosions assessed as impacts of multiple launch rocket system rounds near the Donetsk Filtration Station (DFS). The Mission heard an explosion less than 300m from its forward patrol base in Svitlodarsk. The SMM observed fresh damage caused by shelling in residential areas of Mykolaivka. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and it was also restricted at a checkpoint near Debaltseve, as well as near Izvaryne and Sievernyi at the border with the Russian Federation.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in Luhansk city. The Mission continued to facilitate access to the Donetsk Filtration Station for Voda Donbassa water company employees to keep the station operational and heard ceasefire violations in the area despite security guarantees. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to high-voltage power lines near Almazna and to a water pipeline in Obozne. In Kyiv, the Mission monitored a gathering near the venue of a pre-announced public discussion organized by a non-governmental organization. In Kherson, the SMM monitored a court hearing for the editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti Ukraine. In Lviv, the Mission observed three gatherings in front of the Regional Council building...

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro and the Police Academy of Montenegro held a three-day seminar on the management of contemporary security systems, police leadership qualities, from 14 to 16 May 2018 in Podgorica...

Sharing experiences in the field of in-service training and the training of legal professionals was the focus of an international conference organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan in co-operation with the Lawyer’s Training Centre of the Ministry of Justice on 17 and 18 May in Tashkent and Samarkand.

Conflict management for the parliamentary services of Montenegro in focus of a training workshop organized by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro was held on 17 and 18 May in Podgorica...

A three-day workshop on anti-corruption draft legislation review for 30 representatives of government institutions, law enforcement agencies, civil society and the business community of Kyrgyzstan concluded on 18 May 2018 in Bishkek...

TASHKENT, 18 May 2018 – Practical measures to combat illicit cross-border trafficking in cultural property in the Central Asian Region was the focus of a five-day regional workshop, which concluded today in Tashkent...

The latest trends in using the Internet to illegally buy and sell drugs and how to counter this phenomenon were the focus of an OSCE-supported training course for law enforcement officials from Kazakhstan’s Regional Hub to Counter Global Threats which concluded on 18 May 2018 in Astana...

The SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM observed fresh damage caused by gunfire and shelling in residential areas of Hranitne, Kozatske and Sakhanka. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Petrivske and Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and it was restricted also at a checkpoint near Novoazovsk.* Two SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) were jammed while flying near Horlivka.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in Verkhnoshyrokivske, Pikuzy, Bezimenne, Miusynsk and Fashchivka. The SMM observed new mine hazard signs and anti-tank mines in Avdiivka. The Mission continued to facilitate access to the Donetsk Filtration Station for Voda Donbassa water company employees to keep the station operational and heard ceasefire violations in the area despite security guarantees. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to high-voltage power lines near Almazna and to a water pipeline in Obozne...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 17 May 2018 – The OSCE-supported Ninth Annual Central Asian Forum on Internet Development began today in Almaty, Kazakhstan...

The Central Asian Youth Talks and Model OSCE for 34 young people from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe from 10 to 15 May 2018 in Dushanbe and in the town of Romit north east of Dushanbe. During these events, participants discussed modern security challenges and the role of youth in addressing them.

The role of armed and security forces in democratic societies was the focus of a seminar organized by the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre from 14 to 18 May 2018 in Bucharest. The discussion brought together more than 50 participants, including senior officers from the armed forces, senior government officials, representatives of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and representatives of academia and civil society, from Romania and other OSCE participating States...

On 11 May 2018, a public dialogue was organized by the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda of the Kyrgyz Republic (CEC) and the public foundation Civic Platform, with the support of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek, to discuss ways to improve the electoral legislation and to identify the main strategic directions of electoral reform.

MINSK, 16 May 2018 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG and its Working Groups in Minsk on 16 May 2018:...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued to facilitate access to the Donetsk Filtration Station for Voda Donbassa water company employees in order to keep the station operational. It heard ceasefire violations close by, despite security guarantees, and immediately left the location and suspended operations in the area of the station. In Betmanove, the Mission followed up on reports of civilian casualties. The SMM followed up on reports of fresh damage to civilian properties caused by small-arms and automatic-grenade-launcher fire in Zolote-4. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske and recorded ceasefire violations near the Zolote and Petrivske disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including in Novolaspa and Kreminets.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Vidrodzhennia. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to high-voltage power lines near Almazna and to the water pipeline in Obozne. The SMM continued to follow up on media reports of arson at a Roma community camp near Lviv. In Ostroh in Rivne region, the SMM followed up on reports of a break-in at a chapel at a Jewish cemetery. The SMM also followed up on media reports of a raid by the Security Service of Ukraine on the offices of RIA Novosti in Kyiv...

A well-governed security sector, grounded in respect for human rights and the rule of law, strengthens society’s resilience to threats to security and stability, said OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger at a high-level side event on the margins of the 27th Session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna on 16 May 2018...

SARAJEVO, 16 May 2018 – Women journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are frequently subjected to gender-based and other forms of unequal treatment, harassment and threats while carrying out their professional duties, concluded participants of the two-day conference Status and Protection of Women Journalists in the BiH Media today in Sarajevo...

Strengthening protection and preparedness against terrorist attacks aimed at critical energy infrastructure was the focus of a risk-assessment and crisis management exercise in Sarajevo on 16 and 17 May 2018, organized by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina...

VIENNA, 16 May 2018- Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl opened today the high-level conference Effective Multilateralism in a Globalized World – The Case of Europe and Asia Pacific in Vienna. The conference takes place in the framework of the Austrian Chairmanship of the OSCE Asian Contact Group. It aims to reassess the main security challenges in both the European and Asia-Pacific regions together with representatives of OSCE participating States, international organizations – the United Nations, the OSCE, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in particular- but also civil society, academia and the media.

Over 30 parliamentarians, holders of executive positions, and experts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia gathered on 15 May 2018 in Sarajevo at a regional meeting on gender equality and corruption hosted by the OSCE Mission to BiH, in co-operation with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the OSCE field operations in the region...

At 09:30 on 15 May, an SMM patrol consisting of six members and two armoured vehicles positioned itself on the H20 road about 1.6km south-east of Kamianka (government-controlled, 20km north of Donetsk) and about 1km west of the contact line....

ERGNETI, 15 May 2018- The 86th Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting was held in Ergneti, on 15 May 2018. The meeting was conducted in a business-like atmosphere...

VIENNA, 15 May 2018 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir raised concern today over a raid by security services of Ukraine against Russian state news agency RIA Novosti and TV channel RT offices today in Kyiv as well as the searches of homes of journalists and their arrests...

VIENNA, 15 May 2018 – Welcoming the entering into force of Malta’s new Media and Defamation Act, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFOM), Harlem Désir, called on the authorities to engage in further legal and policy reforms on civil defamation legislation...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations inside the Petrivske and near the Zolote disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted there and elsewhere, including in Donske and Izvaryne. The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The Mission continued to facilitate access to the Donetsk Filtration Station for Voda Donbassa water company employees in order to keep the station operational; it heard ceasefire violations in the area despite security guarantees. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to high-voltage power lines near Almazna and to the Petrivske pumping station near Artema. In Berehove, the Mission followed up further on reports of damage to nine cars with Hungarian licence plates. In Kyiv, the SMM monitored two marches: one on the occasion of Mother’s Day and the second one on affordable housing programmes for internally displaced persons and ATO veterans...

Trial monitoring and fair trial rights were the focus of a two-day training event organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), in co-operation with the OSCE Mission to Skopje, on 14 and 15 May 2018 in Skopje. The trainees – 18 women and five men – were

KYIV, 15 May 2018 – Following meetings with governmental and parliamentary leaders in Kyiv, a high-level delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly led by President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) stressed the need for a UN peace-keeping mission to help end the fighting in eastern Ukraine and to make full implementation of the Minsk Agreements possible. In meetings, the delegation also addressed the humanitarian consequences of the armed conflict in Donbas and urged OSCE participating States to prioritize assisting the country in its efforts to ease the plight of the up to two million internally displaced persons...

Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall number of border crossings by persons decreased at both BCPs. On 8 May 2018 the seventy-fourth Russian convoy of 16 vehicles crossed into Ukraine and returned back to the Russian Federation through the Donetsk Border Crossing Point...

PARIS, 15 May 2018 – The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America), together with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, met with Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov on 15 May.

Good practices for maintaining the functional independence of prosecutors investigating high-profile cases were the focus of a study visit to Oslo by a group of prosecutors from Eastern European countries. The two-day visit organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro, jointly with the Norwegian Centre for Integrity in the Defence Sector (CIDS) and the representatives of the Internal Affairs Ministry/Police Directorate, held a workshop to discuss the first draft of the 2019-2024 Police Human Resources Management Strategy on 9 and 10 May 2018 in Kolasin...