News and press releases

Following a request from Tajikistan’s government to assist the Committee on Television and Radio in the transition from analogue to digital television, the OSCE Office in Tajikistan invited an expert from the Swiss telecommunication and broadcasting regulator BAKOM to meet representatives of Teleradiocom, from 20 to 24 October 2014 in Dushanbe...

Effective rule of law-based responses, as outlined in the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s (GCTF) Rabat Memorandum on Good Practices for Effective Counterterrorism Practice in the Criminal Justice Sector, were the focus of a two-day national training event organized by the OSCE in co-operation with the Government of the Republic of Cyprus in Nicosia on 22 and 23 October 2014 for representatives of agencies in Cyprus that deal with counter-terrorism...

BERN, 27 October 2014- Didier Burkhalter, Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, congratulated Ukrainians for taking part in the early elections of the parliamentary assembly. Taking good note of the preliminary findings of the International Election Observation Mission that these elections marked an important step in Ukraine’s aspirations to consolidate democratic elections in line with its international commitments, he thanked the election observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) and the observation delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly as well as other international institutions for their engagement...

BISHKEK, 27 October 2014 – Four training courses on combating money-laundering and the financing of terrorism, organized by the Kyrgyz State Financial Intelligence Service and the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, will take place from 27 to 30 October 2014 at the Training Centre of the State Financial Intelligence Service in Bishkek...

PRISHTINE/PRISTINA/VIENNA, 27 October 2014 – Ambassador Jean-Claude Schlumberger, Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović, today strongly condemned the attempted murder of Klan Kosova TV station journalist, Milot Hasimja...

KYIV, 27 October 2014 – The 26 October early parliamentary elections marked an important step in consolidating democratic elections in line with international commitments, and were characterized by many positive aspects, including an impartial and efficient Central Election Commission (CEC), competitive contests that offered voters real choice, and general respect for fundamental freedoms, international observers concluded in a preliminary statement released today...

BELGRADE, 27 October 2014- The Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Ambassador Peter Burkhard, welcomed today the conduct of elections to the National Minority Councils as further evidence of Serbia’s support and respect for the rights of all its citizens...

VIENNA, 27 October 2014 – Representatives of law enforcement agencies, government authorities and the private sector, such as the chemical industry or the transportation industry, working to control precursors and synthetic drugs are meeting in Vienna today to explore how to enhance collaboration between law enforcement and non-law enforcement actors to combat the threat of illicit drugs effectively...

The SMM continued focusing on the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. The situation remained volatile in Donetsk and Luhansk. The SMM was prevented from entering the city of Telmanove...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 25 October 2014 – Promoting youth empowerment and enhancing its engagement in the political, economic and cultural life of society will be in focus at the annual Zhas (Youth) Camp that began today in Almaty, Kazakhstan...

KYIV, 24 October 2014 – The international observers monitoring the 26 October early parliamentary elections in Ukraine will present their preliminary post-election statement at a news conference on Monday, 27 October, in Kyiv...

DUSHANBE, 24 October 2014- A graduation ceremony for the 12th Border Management Staff Course took place today at the OSCE Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe...

The SMM continued focusing on the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. The situation remained volatile in Donetsk and Luhansk. In Kharkiv local authorities reported to the SMM that the number of registered IDPs had doubled since August. The SMM continued to receive reports of false bomb threats in Lviv...

BELGRADE, 24 October 2014- Ambassador Angelo Gnaedinger, the Special Representative of the Swiss OSCE-Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus, today held consultations about the OSCE engagement in the South Caucasus in 2015 with the incoming Serbian Chairmanship...

CHISINAU, 24 October 2014 – The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova, today praised participants of an ongoing project to combat child trafficking on both sides of the Dniester/Nistru River...

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro, in partnership with the Union of Municipalities and the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Tourism, organized a two-day workshop on 23 and 24 October 2014 in Mojkovac, on application of the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction in Local Government...

The last in a series of six OSCE workshops on preventing the illegal re-occupation of apartments, houses and land belonging to displaced persons, was held on 24 October 2014 in Gjakovë/Đakovica for representatives of the Kosovo Property Agency (KPA), Kosovo Police, judges and prosecutors...

The OSCE Centre and the Special Forces of the Kyrgyz National Guard on 24 October 2014 completed the “Shamaldy-Say 2014” two-day special tactical simulation exercise at Uch- Kurgan hydro power station in Jalal-Abad province, Kyrgyzstan...

DUSHANBE, 24 October 2014 – A two-week regional Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) course for Russian and Tajik-Dari speaking groups facilitated by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan concluded in Dushanbe today...

National and international instruments for protecting rights to non-discrimination were discussed by lawyers and human rights defenders at a one-day workshop organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan and its partners on 23 October 2014 in Yerevan...

CHISINAU, 24 October 2014 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened an election observation mission for the 30 November 2014 parliamentary elections in Moldova. The mission’s deployment follows invitations from the authorities of the Republic of Moldova...

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. The situation in Luhansk and Donetsk remained tense. Police in Odessa told the SMM about discovered explosives and one RPG in one of the wagons of a passenger train coming from Luhansk...

ASTANA, 23 October 2014 – The International Forum "Future Energy: Reducing CO2 Emissions" held in preparation for the International Specialized Exhibition EXPO-2017 started today in Astana...

KYIV, 23 October 2014- The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) today successfully completed the maiden flight of its unarmed/unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) before members of the media near Mariupol in eastern Ukraine...

COPENHAGEN, 23 October 2014 – President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) today issued the following statement regarding the shooting at the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa on Wednesday:...

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro, in co-operation with Montenegrin Administration for Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, hosted the 8th Regional Conference of the Heads of Financial Intelligence Units (FIU) of South-East Europe on 20 and 21 October 2014 in Podgorica...

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. In the Donetsk and Luhansk regions the situation remained volatile. The SMM observed numerous cases of non-compliance with the provisions of the Minsk Memorandum and received reports of many others. In other parts of the country the situation remained calm.

Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Russian Federation – The Observer Mission (OM) is operating at full capacity. Cross-border traffic flows remained relatively steady at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs) but the total number of border-crossings has again decreased. More people left than entered the Russian Federation (RF) at the two observed BCPs although this return movement has continued to slow down. The OM observed again a considerable number of persons in military-style clothing crossing the border in both directions, few of them apparently belonging to Cossack units. Truck convoys continued to transport coal from the Luhansk region to the RF...

VIENNA, 22 October 2014 – Today all 57 OSCE participating States decided by consensus to extend the mandate of the OSCE Observer Mission at the Russian checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk for one month until 23 November 2014...

VIENNA, 22 October 2014 – Following recent death threats against two reporters in Bosnia and Herzegovina, OSCE media freedom representative Dunja Mijatović today called on authorities to thoroughly and swiftly investigate all threats against media representatives...

Key challenges in strengthening the work by prosecutors in addressing hate crimes were the focus of a panel discussion organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) in Washington, D. C. on 22 October 2014.

The OSCE Gender Section together with the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) on 22 October 2014 launched a new publication, which assesses good practices and challenges within the 27 National Action Plans in place across the OSCE region on implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security...

SARAJEVO, 22 October 2014 – A two-day regional conference of education inspectors organized by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina concluded today in Sarajevo...

The OSCE Centre in Bishkek, in co-operation with the Afghan National Customs Academy, concluded a ten-day training for 18 Afghan Customs officers on customs tariffs and valuation today, 23 October 2014, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan...

COPENHAGEN, 22 October 2014 – OSCE parliamentarians will conduct a limited election observation mission to the United States of America for the country’s mid-term Congressional elections on 4 November...

ASTANA, 22 October 2014 – A train-the-trainers seminar and master class aimed at enhancing knowledge and skills of police academy instructors on human rights began today in Astana...

On 21 October 2014 the 49th meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) took place in Ergneti, co- facilitated by Toivo Klaar, the Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), and Ambassador Angelo Gnaedinger, the Special Representative of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship for the South Caucasus.

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum and within this context the work of the Joint Centre for Co-ordination and Control (JCCC). The Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained tense.

PODGORICA 21 October, 2014 – The financial sustainability of the Public Broadcasting Service, Radio-Television Montenegro (PBS RTCG), and its preparation to digital switch-over were in focus of a seminar organized today by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, in co-operation with the European Broadcasting Union and RTCG...

Ruth Freedom Pojman, OSCE Deputy Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, called for a human rights approach to combating trafficking in human beings on 16 October 2014 at a conference on victim protection in Canada and Europe at the University of Ottawa, co-organized with the Austrian and Swiss Embassies to Canada...

VIENNA, 21 October 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today called on authorities in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia to investigate all hacker attacks on media websites as they represent a clear danger to media freedom...

Raising awareness on waste management was the focus of the two workshops organised by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, in co-operation with the NGO Environmental Movement Ozone, on 17-18 October 2014 in Montenegro...

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors discussed the situation of national minorities and the integration of society with the Latvian authorities, parliamentarians, civil society and minority representatives during her first visit to Latvia as High Commissioner on 15-17 October 2014...

The second edition of the Model OSCE Conference in Vadul lui Voda, a small town located by the Dniester/Nistru River, was held by the OSCE Mission to Moldova on 16-19 October. The Model OSCE aims at engaging youth from both banks in conflict resolution...

VIENNA, 21 October 2014- Counter-terrorism measures can only become sustainable and effective through a gender-sensitive and human rights compliant approach, said participants at the start of a two-day workshop for senior government experts, organized by the OSCE and the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF)...

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. In the Donetsk and Luhansk regions the situation remained volatile. In other parts of the country the situation remained calm. In Lviv the SMM observed a political rally organised by “Right Sector”.

DANILOVGRAD, Montenegro, 20 October 2014 – A five-day regional training course on combating cybercrime in South-Eastern Europe focusing on advanced forensics using Linux, started today in Danilovgrad, Montenegro.

TSAKHKADZOR, Kotayq region of Armenia, 20 October 2014 – A one-week Youth Camp for national minorities, supported by the OSCE Office, opens today, 20 October 2014, in Tsakhkadzor, Kotayq region of Armenia...

VIENNA, October 20, 2014- OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier has welcomed offers by France, Germany, Italy and Russia to help in implementing the Minsk documents.

The OSCE Mission to Moldova organized on 15 October 2014 a round table discussion on Optimization and Implementation of Gagauz Autonomy, a report presented by Piligrim-Demo, a Comrat-based NGO which aims to establish a mechanism for civil society to raise issues related to Gagauzia with central authorities...