News and press releases

While concluding that the 15 October 2017 early parliamentary elections in Austria were conducted in an efficient and professional manner, with civil and political rights fully respected, the final report  issued by observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

PODGORICA, 7 February 2018- In the first of a series of official visits in South-Eastern Europe the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, met on 5 and 6 February with the authorities and media professionals in Podgorica...

The establishment of a national body to monitor places of detention in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of efforts to prevent torture and other ill-treatment was the focus of high-level meetings in Sarajevo, supported by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 5 and 6 February 2018.

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 compared to the previous week.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region compared with the previous 24 hours and no ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Petrivske disengagement area. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including in Kreminets and Naberezhne.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Sievierodonetsk and Khrustalnyi. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repair and maintenance works on essential civilian infrastructure near Shchastia, Artema, Kalynove, Mykhailivka-Almazna, and Slovianoserbsk. The Mission visited five border areas not under government control. The SMM observed gatherings in Kharkiv and Odessa, and followed up on reports of an incident at the building where the Zakarpattia Hungarian Union is located in Uzhhorod...

BRUSSELS, 6 February 2018 – Senior members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly were in Brussels on 5-6 February to learn more about Belgian migration and asylum policies as well as measures to promote the integration of refugees. The visit was part of a series of activities of the OSCE PA Ad Hoc Committee on Migration which seek to move beyond the assessing of emergency measures in frontline countries to medium- to long-term policies to promote the integration of refugees in destination countries...

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo donated 30 specialized first aid kits to special operations units and rapid reaction units of the Kosovo Police on 6 February 2018...

The OSCE-supported Building Bridges Fund has announced its annual grants to municipalities, schools, students, teachers and parents. The grants are used to organize activities that bring together students from all communities, who attend schools with different languages of instruction.

Afghan law enforcement officers completed on 5 February 2018 an OSCE-organized two-week train-the-trainer course on combating illicit drug trafficking and drug-related crime, at the Russian training facility in Domodedovo, near Moscow...

The SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region between the evenings of 2 and 3 February compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions between the evenings of 3 and 4 February compared with the previous 24 hours. Small arms fire was directed towards an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle at a heavy weapons holding area in Donetsk region. The SMM observed damage to civilian properties in Myronivskyi. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area. The Mission's access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including in Mineralne and to a compound in Luhansk city.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Bakhmut. The Mission visited two border areas not under government control. In Lviv, the SMM followed up on reports of a fire at a church and monitored an international border crossing point near Shehyni as well as three gatherings in Kyiv...

Women from the OSCE area face numerous challenges and barriers to fully participate in economic, social and political life. In 2013 the OSCE Gender Section, in co-operation with the Danish organization KVINFO, initiated a project on establishing mentor networks, with the ultimate goal to empower women in the OSCE region.

VIENNA, 5 February 2018 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today welcomed reports of the release of journalist Dilmurod Saiid, who has served nine years behind bars.

MOSCOW, 5 February 2018 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened its election observation mission for the 18 March presidential election in the Russian Federation. The mission’s deployment follows an official invitation from the Russian authorities...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. Small arms were fired toward an SMM patrol and an SMM UAV. The SMM observed damage from an explosion in Donetsk city centre. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, and while present in Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote it observed a calm situation. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including in Novolaspa.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Yablunivka, Oleksandropil, Orikhove-Donetske and Poltavka. The Mission continued to facilitate and monitor repair works at a pumping station in Artema. The SMM visited two border areas not under government control.

On 2 February 2018 at 13:00, an SMM patrol consisting of six SMM members and two armoured vehicles was positioned at an abandoned gas station on road M04 about 2.5km south-west of “DPR”-controlled Yasynuvata (16km north-east of Donetsk), about 2km east of the contact line. Between 13:00 and 13:50, the SMM recorded five undetermined explosions, 11 shots of infantry fighting vehicle (BMP-2) cannon (30mm) fire and 34 bursts and shots of heavy-machine-gun and small-arms fire, all 1-2km west. Between 13:50 and 14:08, the SMM heard uncountable overlapping bursts and shots of heavy-machine-gun and small-arms fire 1-2km west. At 14:08, five SMM members were standing in between the SMM’s armoured vehicles when they heard the hissing sound of three bullets flying west to east over their heads and saw one of the bullets land 10-15m east of the SMM. The SMM patrol immediately left the area and returned safely to its base in Donetsk city at 14:55.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it observed ceasefire violations near the Zolote disengagement area. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including in Siedove near the border with the Russian Federation, in Donske and near Kreminets.* The SMM followed up on reports of an explosion in Donetsk city centre. The Mission visited two border areas not under government control. In Kyiv, the SMM observed four gatherings.

Some 75 city administration officials including city council members, public enterprise officials and providers of citizen services from Novi Pazar have successfully completed an OSCE-supported public relations and customer service training course held over a period of three months from November 2017 to January 2018. The final course in a series of three will take place in Kopaonik from 2 to 4 February.

A one-day workshop for a newly-established multi-disciplinary working group on addressing domestic violence issues concluded on 2 February 2018 in the Khuroson district of the province of Khatlon, Tajikistan. The event was organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including in Horlivka and near Kreminets.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Mykolaivka. The Mission continued to facilitate and monitor repair works to water wells near Krasnyi Lyman and Artema. The SMM visited two border areas not under government control. In Odessa, the SMM observed an event commemorating the Holocaust; in Kyiv, the SMM observed a protest of retired law enforcement personnel...

COPENHAGEN, 1 February 2018- Ignacio Sanchez Amor (MP, Spain), Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, expressed his concern today over developments in the case of Taner Kiliç, Chair of Amnesty International Turkey. Kiliç, accused of being a member of the Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), was granted a conditional release on Wednesday, with the court reversing the decision today...

A team of experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) were in Serbia from 29 January to 1 February for a consultation and planning visit within the framework of the ODIHR Support to Elections in the Western Balkans project. The ODIHR team met with senior

VIENNA, 1 February 2018- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today expressed his concern about a law criminalizing statements on historical events, such as accusations against Poland or Polish people of complicity in crimes committed during the Holocaust or denial of crimes against the Polish population committed by Ukrainian nationalists, such as the Volyn Massacre during World War II...

More than 30 prosecutors and judges from across Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) attended a training course on trafficking in human beings (THB), which concluded on 1 February 2018 in Sarajevo. The course was organized by the OSCE Mission to BiH, in co-operation with the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Center of the Federation of BiH.

What strategies are needed to reach gender parity in international and regional organizations like the United Nations and the OSCE? Some fifty delegates of OSCE participating States and OSCE staff members gathered to exchange views on this question at Café Demel in Vienna on 30 January 2018. The event was organized by the Gender Section of the Office of the OSCE Secretary General in co-operation with Norway’s Permanent Delegation to the OSCE.

MINSK, 31 January 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 31 January 2018...

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 near all three. Its access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere, including in Donske. The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Vidrodzhennia and Bakhmut. The Mission continued to facilitate and monitor repair works to water wells near Krasnyi Lyman. The SMM visited two border areas not under government control. In Chernivtsi, the SMM observed an event commemorating the battle of Kruty...

VIENNA, 31 January 2018- The importance of transparent and reliable military information for countering the deliberate or undeliberate misinterpretation of data on military activities that may heighten tensions between participating States, and even escalate protracted conflicts, was emphasized at today’s OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) meeting in Vienna, held under Slovakia’s Chairmanship...

VIENNA, 31 January 2018 – A plan for joint action by the OSCE and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for the period 2018-2019 was signed by OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger and UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov today at the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna.

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 compared to the previous week. The seventy-first Russian convoy crossed into Ukraine and returned though the Donetsk BCP...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations inside the Petrivske disengagement area. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including to two compounds in Luhansk city. The SMM observed weapons in violations of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM facilitated and monitored repair works to a water pumping station near Artema. The Mission visited four border areas not under government control. In Kyiv, the SMM monitored a gathering in the city centre and it continued to monitor the gathering outside the Parliament building. In Ivano-Frankivsk, Odessa, Kharkiv and Dnipro, the SMM observed events commemorating the battle of Kruty...

VIENNA, 30 January 2018 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today condemned recent violent attacks against reporters at an event in a hotel in Prague following the election of the Czech president...

Between the evenings of 26 and 27 January, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 27 and 28 January, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations along the contact line in Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM observed damage caused by shelling in a residential area of Sakhanka. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including in Ozerianivka, Sakhanka and to a heavy weapons permanent storage site in an area of Luhansk region beyond government control.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in Mariupol and Karlivka. The Mission visited three border areas not under government control...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including to a heavy weapons holding area in a government-controlled area.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Obozne. The Mission visited three border areas not under government control...

The SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission observed an impact site in a residential area of Sakhanka. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, where it observed calm situations. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including in Sorokyne, Olenivka and Luhansk city.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Sievierodonetsk and Klynove. The SMM facilitated and monitored repairs of water wells in Krasnyi Lyman. The SMM observed a ten-truck convoy marked “Humanitarian Aid from the Russian Federation” travelling through non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region and was prevented from following it into a compound in Luhansk city. The Mission visited two border areas not under government control...

VIENNA, 26 January 2018 – Following the blocking of Charter97.org in Belarus, a popular website on current affairs in the country, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today called on the authorities to ensure unrestricted access to the Internet...

VIENNA, 26 January 2018 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today called on the Turkish authorities to drop terrorism charges against journalists and set them free...

ROME/WARSAW/VIENNA, 26 January 2018 – Ahead of tomorrow’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day, OSCE officials today called on all participating States to commemorate the victims of the Nazi regime, as part of their educational activities to address anti-Semitism and all forms of intolerance...

Nearly 30 young officials from six OSCE participating States in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus increased their knowledge about democratic institutions and OSCE commitments in the field of democratic governance during the latest edition of the Young Policy Adviser Course, organized by the

VIENNA, 26 January 2018 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today, in a letter to Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, called on the Russian Parliament not to adopt the draft law that through amendments to the “Statute on the Mass Media” extends the status of a "foreign agent" to individuals...

Handling digital evidence by first responders was the focus of a one-week train-the-trainer course for South-Eastern Europe’s criminal justice institutions, which took place from 22 to 26 January 2018 at the Albanian Security Academy in Tirana...

Countering transnational threats through the organization of risk profiling during sea vessel searches was the focus of an OSCE-supported five-day training course that concluded in Aktau, Kazakhstan on 26 January 2018.

An OSCE-supported forum to discuss opportunities for attracting investments in Kazakhstan’s waste recycling sector and exchange best practices and technologies in the field was held on 26 January 2018 in Almaty. Some 60 representatives of central and local governments, regional waste recycling companies, environmental experts, civil society, international organizations and national businesses participated in the two-day event.

VIENNA, 26 January 2018 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia), met today with the newly elected President of the “Austrian Nationalrat”, the Austrian Parliament, Wolfgang Sobotka, for talks that focused on challenges to the OSCE area and Austria’s contributions to the OSCE and the Parliamentary Assembly. While in Vienna Tsereteli also met with the OSCE’s Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Desir, to discuss work in the field of media freedom issues....

VIENNA, 25 January 2018 –The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today condemned recent attacks against Turkish Cypriot newspaper Afrika’s Office in Nicosia.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region compared with the previous reporting period and one ceasefire violation in Luhansk region (as in the previous reporting period). The Mission continued to follow up on reports of civilian casualties in Olenivka and followed up on new reports of civilian casualties in Dokuchaievsk and of civilians injured from mishandling of unexploded ordnance in Donetsk city and Verkhnotoretske. In Dokuchaievsk, the SMM also saw damage caused by gunfire to a residential building. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, where it observed calm situations. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere.* The SMM facilitated and monitored repairs of essential infrastructure in Krasnyi Lyman. The Mission visited three border areas not under government control.

On 25 January 2018 at 07:54 (Moscow time), the seventy-first Russian convoy arrived at the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP). A total of 15 vehicles were checked by the Russian border guards and customs services prior to their crossing into Ukraine. All 15 vehicles had crossed back into the Russian Federation by 14:47 on 25 January.

VIENNA, 25 January 2018 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today welcomed the decision by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation regarding the case of Uzbek journalist Khudoberdi Nurmatov, also known under his penname Ali Feruz, a contributing journalist to Novaya Gazeta.

VIENNA, 25 January 2018 – In his first address to the OSCE Permanent Council, OSCE President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) today called on the Organization’s participating States to ensure the effective functioning of the OSCE, noting it is one of the leanest and most flexible organizations in the world.

VIENNA, 25 January 2018 – International efforts to provide a safe security environment by combating the spread of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and by promoting the secure and safe stockpiling of SALW and conventional ammunition was the focus of yesterday’s OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation meeting in Vienna, under Slovakia’s Chairmanship of the Forum.

ERGNETI, 24 January 2018- The 84th meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) was held today in Ergneti. The meeting was conducted in an open and positive atmosphere...