News and press releases

COPENHAGEN, 6 October 2017 – The President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Austrian parliamentarian Christine Muttonen, today welcomed the announcement of the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and offered congratulations on behalf of the Assembly to the civil society coalition for its achievement...

VIENNA, 6 October 2017 – Canada’s new Journalistic Source Protection Act, known as Bill S-231, which was passed on Wednesday 4 October, was today welcomed by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir. The legislation, which protects the confidentiality of journalistic sources, was adopted with the support of all three political parties. The bill was first introduced by Conservative Senator Claude Carignan in November 2016...

A team of election experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) visited The Hague from 4 to 6 October 2017 to present the  final report  of the ODIHR election assessment mission for the 15 March 2017 parliamentary elections in the Netherlands. The report’s

YEREVAN, 6 October 2017 – During his visit to Yerevan, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir underlined the need to continue the fruitful co-operation between his office and Armenia to promote the freedom of the media...

On 6 October 2017, the OSCE Mission to Moldova started a series of training sessions in eight districts of central Moldova to improve law enforcement’s capabilities to more effectively combat domestic violence. The prevalent phenomenon has risen to the attention of the European Court of Human Rights that is holding Moldova responsible in several egregious cases.

A two-day training seminar on the prohibition of discrimination against persons with disabilities was organized for some 25 employees of the state administration by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro in co-operation with the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights on 5 and 6 October 2017 in Bečići...

VIENNA, 5 October 2017 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today welcomed the release of Solidzhon Abdurakhmanov, a former correspondent with Uznews.net and the UK-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote and observed calm situations. Its access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere, including near Siedove.* The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Ternove. It facilitated and monitored the inspection of essential infrastructure in Stanytsia Luhanska. The SMM visited one border area not under government control...

ANDORRA LA VELLA, 5 October 2017 – Cybersecurity, climate change and the importance of education as a guarantee of stability were the focus of debate among some 180 parliamentarians taking part in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s 2017 Autumn Meeting in Andorra this week.

A two-day seminar on strengthening rule of law-compliant criminal justice responses to terrorism, which brought together over 30 practitioners from the judiciary, law enforcement agencies and prison management, concluded on 5 October 2017 in Astana.

MINSK, 5 October 2017 – 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 4 October 2017:

The SMM recorded overall fewer ceasefire violations, however, more explosions, in Donetsk region and more ceasefire violations in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM assessed damage to facilities at an entry-exit checkpoint in Maiorsk. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote, and Petrivske, and recorded a calm situation in all three. Its access remained restricted there and elsewhere.* In violation of the withdrawal lines, an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle spotted a probable mortar in Mykolaivka. The Mission facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of the thermal power plant in Shchastia, water pipelines in Zolote, a pumping station near Artema, and power lines near Novozvanivka. The Mission visited four border areas not under government control. The SMM monitored a peaceful gathering in Sievierodonetsk. It followed up on reports of a fire at a branch of Sberbank in Lviv.

ANDORRA LA VELLA, 4 October 2017 – Following discussion in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Standing Committee of Heads of Delegations today related to the situation in Spain, Austrian parliamentarian Christine Muttonen, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, issued the following statement:

Making parliaments more representative and gender-sensitive was the focus of discussions among parliamentarians, local elected officials and civil society representatives from Eastern Europe and Central Asia during a regional conference held in Chisinau on 3 and 4 October 2017. The event was

Zvornik, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 4 October 2017 – An Education for Social Justice training for primary schools, organized by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), concluded on 4 October 2017 in Zvornik, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Lamberto Zannier presented the first ever children’s illustrated Serbian-Albanian/Albanian-Serbian dictionary (Mali rečnik/Fjalor i vogël) to pupils in two primary schools in Bujanovac and Preševo today. Over the next three days, the dictionary

TBILISI, 4 October 2017 – Concluding a two-day visit to Tbilisi, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir welcomed the amendments to Georgia’s Constitution, recently adopted by the Parliament, which will grant citizens the right to access and freely use the internet. The amendments also enhance the right to access to information and the independence of the public service broadcaster...

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...

VIENNA, 4 October 2017 –The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today called on German authorities to ensure that the freedom of expression is safeguarded in the implementation of, the Network Enforcement Act (NEA), a federal law on better law enforcement in social networks which entered into force on 1 October...

Discussing new standards for detention conditions and the treatment of prisoners, and elaborating on existing and potential new tools for monitoring places of detention were the key objectives of a meeting with representatives of National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) from the OSCE and Council of

Podgorica, 4 October 2017 – Forensic evidence and the application of modern forensic standards in the judiciary were the focus of an OSCE-supported seminar held on 3 and 4 October in Podgorica. Particular emphasis was placed on the treatment of evidence, forensic analytics, explosions, DNA analysis and crime scene investigation.

Local police officers from Mongolia completed a week-long OSCE-supported course on trends and tendencies of organized crime, with a specific focus on trafficking in human beings, which took place from 2 to 6 October 2017 in Ulaanbaatar.

On 3 October 2017, the 81st Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting was held in Ergneti. Ambassador Guenther Baechler, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus, and Erik Hoeeg, Acting Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), co-facilitated the meeting.

ANDORRA LA VELLA, 3 October 2017 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s 2017 Autumn Meeting, bringing together some 180 parliamentarians from across the OSCE’s 57 participating States, opened today in Andorra with addresses by the OSCE PA President, and the Speaker of Parliament and Prime Minister of Andorra...

Practical measures that can facilitate the participation of persons with disabilities in parliaments and their access to other elected positions were discussed during an event co-organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 3 October 2017 on the margins of

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region compared with the previous 24 hours and no ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. The Mission followed up further on reports of civilian casualties in Mariupol and Shchastia. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote, and Petrivske, and recorded a calm situation in all three. Its access remained restricted in the three disengagement areas and in Boikovske. In violation of the withdrawal lines, an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle spotted a tank behind a house in Verkhnoshyrokivske. The SMM visited a heavy weapons permanent storage site; it also observed weapons outside designated storage sites. The Mission facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of the thermal power plant in Shchastia, water pipelines in Zolote, a pumping station near Artema, water wells near Krasnyi Lyman and the railway station in Verkhnotoretske. The Mission visited two border areas not under government control...

VIENNA, 3 October 2017 – More than 120 representatives of OSCE participating States, Partners for Co-operation and other partnering organizations have gathered for a two-day meeting in Vienna today to review the implementation of OSCE assistance projects under the OSCE Documents on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and Stockpiles of Conventional Ammunition (SCA) and explore possible further actions in this field.

Podgorica, 3 October 2017- A two-day training seminar on the Montenegrin Law on Civil Procedure organized by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro in cooperation with the Judiciary Training Centre was held on 2 and 3 October 2017 in Podgorica.

Podgorica, 3 October 2017- A training workshop for the parliamentary services of Montenegro focusing on business culture and communication was organized by the Parliament of Montenegro with support of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro on 28 and 29 September 2017 in Podgorica. Fifteen members of different departments of the parliamentary services participated.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region between the evenings of 29 and 30 September compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 30 September and 1 October the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region compared with the previous 24 hours. In Luhansk region the SMM recorded similar numbers of ceasefire violations between the evenings of 29 and 30 September and between 30 September and 1 October compared with the previous reporting period. While in government-controlled Kriakivka the SMM heard small-arms fire and two explosions nearby and immediately left the area. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations inside the Stanytsia Luhanska and Petrivske disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere.* The SMM assessed impact sites in Dokuchaievsk and in the Trudivski area of Donetsk city. The Mission visited two border areas not under government control. The SMM continued to follow up on the incident at an ammunition depot in Kalynivka, Vinnytsia region...

VIENNA, 2 October 2017 – The decision of the Irish government to call a referendum on whether blasphemy should remain an offence in the Irish Constitution was welcomed by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM) Harlem Désir in a letter to Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar today.

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo launched a media literacy initiative with a two-day training for 14 teachers of seven schools in Prishtinë/Priština, Mitrovicë/Mitrovica, Prizren, Pejë/Peć, Ferizaj/Uroševac, Gjilan/Gnjilane and Gjakovë/Đakovica. The training held with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) concluded on 1 October 2017 in Prishtinë/Priština...

VIENNA, 2 October 2017- The Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, and OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger today expressed concern about recent developments in Spain...

The OSCE Mission to Moldova is supporting two tournaments in order to develop the debating skills of youth belonging to national minorities in September and October.

SARAJEVO, 2 October 2017 – An advanced five-day training course on increasing operational awareness to detect forged documents and imposters for border police officials from Bosnia and Herzegovina started today in Sarajevo...

WARSAW, 2 October 2017- Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), called on the Spanish authorities to ensure respect for fundamental freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression. Her call came after reports of the dispersal by force of protests and assemblies by Spanish police trying to prevent the holding of a referendum in Catalonia that had been suspended by Spain’s Constitutional Court...

The relationship between the work of judicial self-governance bodies and judicial independence and accountability was the focus of a regional roundtable discussion organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Podgorica on 28 and 29 September 2017. The

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission followed up on reports of a civilian casualty from Zhovanka neighbourhood of Zaitseve, Donetsk region. The SMM observed damage to civilian properties in residential areas in Yasynuvata, Donetsk region. The SMM continued monitoring the three agreed disengagement areas and recorded ceasefire violations inside the Petrivske one. Its access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere, including in Shcherbak in Donetsk region.

VIENNA, 29 September 2017 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today condemned the fire bombing of the Moscow offices and threats against the Russian news website Lenta.ru.

The Guidelines on the Legal Personality of Religious or Belief Communities, developed jointly by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, were presented and discussed at the United Nations Office in Geneva on 29 September

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission followed up on reports of a civilian casualty from Kramatorsk. The SMM observed damage to civilian properties in residential areas in Marinka and near a bus stop in the Trudivski area of Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi district. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas and recorded ceasefire violations near, but outside, the Zolote and Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere.* It saw weapons in violations of withdrawal lines in areas outside of government control. The Mission facilitated and monitored repairs and maintenance of essential infrastructure in Shchastia, Almazna, Luhanske, and Myronivka. The SMM followed up on reports of an incident at an ammunition depot in Kalynivka, Vinnytsia region.

A workshop on the prevention of early forced marriages, organized by The OSCE Mission to Montenegro, was conducted in Tivat, Montenegro, on 29 September 2017.

MINSK, 29 September 2017 – A two-day consultation mission aimed at determining the scope of co-operation between the OSCE and Belarus in support of the country’s trade facilitation efforts concluded today in Minsk.

An OSCE-wide Seminar on Passenger Data Exchange for counter-terrorism and border security officers from OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation was held on 28 and 29 September 2017 in Vienna...

A new publication highlighting good practices in identity management, both in providing evidence of identity in the issuance of travel documents and identity cards and in ensuring access to economic, civil and political rights, was launched at an event in Vienna on 29 September 2017. The Compendium

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro organized a two-day workshop on strategic planning for some 15 members and service staff of the State Election Commission (SEC) on 28 and 29 September 2017 in Podgorica...

VIENNA, 29 September 2017 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz and his Special Representative Professor Peter Neumann addressed a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council today in Vienna to present an expert report on the OSCE’s activities to prevent violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism...

TBILISI, 29 September 2017 – Concluding a two-day visit to Georgia yesterday, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Representative on the South Caucasus, Kristian Vigenin (MP, Bulgaria), urged continued efforts of reconciliation through improved conditions of the daily lives of people impacted by the protracted conflicts...

Promoting the participation of persons with disabilities in political and public life was the focus of an OSCE Mission to Skopje-organized workshop that took place on 28 September 2017 in Skopje.

While concluding that political parties were able to campaign freely in Albania’s 25 June 2017 parliamentary elections and that fundamental freedoms were respected, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) notes in its  final report an overall lack of public trust in the