News and press releases

DUSHANBE, 24 May 2016 – An OSCE-organized high-level dialogue on countering human trafficking today in Dushanbe brought together some 50 participants from state agencies, civil society organizations and the international community, as part of the Office’s support to the Inter-agency Commission on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings under Tajikistan’s Presidential Apparatus...

WARSAW/COPENHAGEN, 24 May 2016 – In a joint statement, Ilkka Kanerva, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, expressed concern today over a constitutional amendment passed by the Turkish parliament stripping certain members of their immunity from prosecution...

ASTANA, 24 May 2016 – An OSCE-supported regional training seminar for some 50 military officers from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan on the practical implementation of the Vienna Document 2011 and confidence- and security-building measures began today in Astana...

Election experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented the findings and recommendations from the final report on the 4 October 2015 parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan, at an event held in the Kyrgyz capital on 24 May 2016 and co-organized with the OSCE Centre in Bishkek.

Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall cross-border traffic increased at both BCPs...

A civil society expert workshop and discussions amongst OSCE delegations on the topic of Dialogue in Search of Social Cohesion, organized by the 2016 Austrian Chairmanship of the OSCE Mediterranean Contact Group and hosted by Spain, concluded on 24 May 2016 in Madrid...

The SMM observed a similar level of violence in Donetsk region both on 21 and 22 May as compared to 20 May and observed an increase in the number of ceasefire violations in Luhansk region on 21 May and fewer on 22 May- compared to 20 May. It continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons, and noted the presence of armoured combat vehicles and anti-aircraft weapons in the security zone. The Mission followed up on reports of shelling and conducted crater analysis in government-controlled Avdiivka. Some 600 people gathered in front of the residence of SMM monitors in Donetsk city. It also monitored events on the occasion of the “Day of Heroes” in Lviv and a protest in Chernivtsi. The Mission’s freedom of movement was restricted on eight occasions, exclusively in areas not controlled by the Government...