News and press releases
News and press releases from the OSCE's global activities.
OSCE Chief Monitor in Ukraine welcomes extension of Special Monitoring Mission’s mandate
Publishing date: 18 February 2016
KYIV, 18 February 2016 – The Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, Ertugrul Apakan, expressed his gratitude to all 57 OSCE participating States for their support for the Mission, following a consensus decision today to extend the SMM’s mandate to 31 March 2017...
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, based on information received as of 19:30hrs, 17 February 2016
Publishing date: 18 February 2016
The SMM observed a number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM observed damage to homes caused by recent shelling. The Mission continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons. The SMM observed long lines of civilians and vehicles waiting at checkpoints close to the contact line, which it attributed to the closure of the Marinka checkpoint. In Odessa, the SMM observed activists at a checkpoint for trucks from the Russian Federation transiting through Ukraine...
Spot Report by the Observer Mission at the Russian checkpoints of Gukovo and Donetsk: A forty-eighth Russian convoy of 39 vehicles crossed into Ukraine and returned back through the Donetsk Border Crossing Point
Publishing date: 18 February 2016
On 18 February 2016 at 07:00hrs (Moscow time), a Russian convoy arrived at the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP). A total of 39 vehicles were checked by the Russian border guard and customs services. All of 39 vehicles had crossed back into the Russian Federation by 13:50hrs on 18 February...
OSCE Mission to Skopje-supported fund continues building bridges between communities
Publishing date: 18 February 2016
SKOPJE, 18 February 2016 – The OSCE-supported Building Bridges Fund, launched in 2014, will continue for a third year, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje Nina Suomalainen announced today...
OSCE/ODIHR Director calls on Belarus to introduce moratorium on death penalty
Publishing date: 18 February 2016
WARSAW, 18 February 2016 – Today, following the sentencing to death in Minsk of both Sergei Khmelevsky this week and Henadz Yakaritski on 5 January 2016, Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), called on Belarus to introduce an immediate moratorium on the death penalty and its complete abolition...
OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine’s mandate extended by one year to 31 March 2017
Publishing date: 18 February 2016
BERLIN / VIENNA, 18 February 2016 – The mandate of the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) was extended today by the OSCE Permanent Council to 31 March 2017, a move welcomed by the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Secretary General Lamberto Zannier...
OSCE Academy in Bishkek receives new license for Master’s programme
Publishing date: 18 February 2016
BISHKEK, 18 February 2016 – The Kyrgyz Ministry of Education and Science issued a new license for the OSCE Academy’s Master’s Degree programme in Political Science with focus on Central Asia. Sergey Kapinos, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, today presented the license to the Academy’s Director Pal Dunay at the OSCE Centre’s premises...