News and press releases

Further allegations of human rights abuses emerge in Donbas...

Fighting in and around Donetsk continues, as living conditions deteriorate for the civilian population. The SMM met internally displaced persons (IDPs) leaving Luhansk. In Chernivtsi soldiers protest against mobilization...

VIENNA, 21 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today called on the authorities in the Russian Federation to ensure journalists’ safety following yesterday’s attack on journalist Magomed Khanmagomedov in Dagestan...

KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKY, Russian Federation, 20 August 2014- The Observer Mission (OM) reached full operational capacity and almost completed the replacement of temporary mission members. Observation at the Border Crossing-Points is conducted every day in three eight-hour shifts. Cross-border traffic flow decreased at both Border Crossing-Points, predominantly into the Russian Federation. The OM received reports from people fleeing from Ukraine about the dire situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The report covers increased Russian military activity in the vicinity of the Border Crossing-Points...

Fighting in the north-eastern part of the Donetsk region and south-eastern areas of the Luhansk region continued. The SMM monitored the situation of the civilian population in Donetsk...

ISSYK-KUL, Kyrgyzstan, 20 August 2014 – The OSCE Police Matters Programme today launched a four-day training course in Issyk-Kul yesterday for 25 senior and junior staff of the public security departments under the Kyrgyz Ministry of Interior from Bishkek city, Chui, Naryn, Talas and Issyk-Kul regions on good practices in community policing and preventing religious conflict...

The OSCE Mission to Skopje donated six computers to the Interior Ministry on 20 August 2014 as part of a project to improve the capacity of Criminal Investigation Directorates in the host country, Montenegro and Serbia to strategically analyse and assess the threat posed by organized crime...

VIENNA, 20 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today denounced recent attacks on members of the media in different regions of Ukraine...

VIENNA, 19 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today urged U.S. law enforcement authorities to respect the right of media to cover public events without undue restraints in light of the arrest of three more journalists reporting on civil disturbances in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri...

Fighting in the north-eastern part of the Donetsk region and the south-eastern part of the Luhansk region continued. The SMM visited Mariupol – an industrial port city in the south of the Donetsk region – and found the situation to be calm. The SMM was informed that some internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are moving to Crimea...

ASHGABAT, 19 August 2014 – Members of the Mejlis (Parliament) and representatives of judiciary and law enforcement agencies of Turkmenistan discussed decriminalization of parts of the criminal justice system at an OSCE-organized seminar that concluded in Ashgabat today...

COPENHAGEN, 18 August 2014 – In a phone call today with Victor Dolidze, the Acting Head of the Georgian Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Chair of the Assembly’s human rights committee, Isabel Santos, underlined the importance of prosecutors adhering to principles of political neutrality, independence and the rule of law...

In Kharkiv the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) arrested a group accused of organizing terrorist attacks in the region. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) described the impact of the conflict in the town of Pervomaisk, Luhansk Region. Protests against mobilization continued in Chernivitsi...

VIENNA, 18 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about the deteriorating media freedom situation in Crimea following the decision of the de-facto Crimean authorities to ban journalist Ismet Yuksel from entering the peninsula...

A new short film featuring first-hand accounts of the devastating floods in May 2014 and immediate responses at several sites across Bosnia and Herzegovina was released by the OSCE Mission to BiH on 18 August 2014. The documentary, “Once the water recedes: The 2014 floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the aftermath of a natural disaster”, highlights the shortcomings and struggles in the wake of the floods...

ISSYK-KUL, Kyrgyzstan, 18 August, 2014 – The OSCE Centre in Bishkek is today supporting the Eurasian Group in hosting a workshop on combatting cybercrime and money laundering for some 50 experts of financial intelligence units and the private sector from five Central Asia states, Belarus, China, India and Russia...

The annual Pamir Invest Forum, bringing together more than 160 participants from across the country, and Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan, was held in Khorog on 15 and 16 August 2014, with the support of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, and focused on domestic and foreign investment opportunities, tourism and regional co-operation...

In Donetsk the situation remained tense and the SMM heard repeated explosions on the city’s outskirts. Draftees protested against mobilization in Chernivtsi...

The SMM monitored a simultaneous release of prisoners in the Donetsk region. The Kharkiv region “has exhausted” its capacity to absorb more internally displaced persons (IDPs), according to the regional social protection department. Protestors in Kyiv demand lustration of government...

KYIV, 15 August 2014 – The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine and the country’s State Emergency Service (SES) today released two public service audiovisual announcements aimed at informing people and especially children of safety rules in case they encounter potentially dangerous explosive items...

The Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, in a report published on 14 August 2014, lauded the Romanian Government for keeping the fight against human trafficking high on its political agenda...

DUSHANBE, 15 August 2014 – A week-long workshop aimed at enhancing the capacity of law enforcement agencies and judicial institutions in West and Central Asia to dismantle criminal networks involved in illicit drug trafficking, concluded today at the OSCE Border Management Staff College...

The SMM visited Kramatorsk...

The last in a series of three workshops organized by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo on professional reporting standards, ethics, and media accountability for young journalists concluded in Prizren on 14 August 2014...

VIENNA, 14 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović said today that the arrest of two reporters covering civil disturbances in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, was unacceptable and a clear violation of the right of media to cover news...

This report presents views on displacement and future expectations of around 400 internally displaced persons, interviewed by the Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (SMM) in thirteen Ukrainian regions between 18 June and 19 July 2014.

BISHKEK, 14 August 2014 – Representatives of Switzerland’s Federal Customs Administration of (FCA) started a two-week official visit to Bishkek today, with the support of the OSCE to examine the functioning of the risk management system of the State Customs Service of the Kyrgyz Republic...

KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKY, Russian Federation, 13 August 2014- The Observer Mission (OM) has reached full operational capacity. This report details the observation at the border crossing points, the opening of Gukovo border crossing point, increased Russian military activity at the border and developments regarding the return of the last five Ukrainian officers to Ukraine...

Police in the Luhansk region accuse a volunteer military battalion of illegal detentions...

VIENNA, 13 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today condemned a physical attack against Domagoj Margetić, a Croatian journalist, on 11 August...

SKOPJE, 13 August 2014- The Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, Ambassador Ralf Breth, marking the signing of the Ohrid Framework Agreement (OFA) 13 years ago, said today that the Agreement was a milestone symbolizing the start of the essential process of integrating the society and building a truly multi-ethnic, modern European state...

PRISHTINЁ/PRIŠTINA, 12 August 2014 – To mark International Youth Day, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, UNICEF and GIZ (the German agency for international co-operation) will support today 25 Local Youth Action Councils (LYACs) in taking the concerns of young people to local- and central-level officials.

VIENNA, 12 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović expressed her concern about a draft law on sanctions registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 8 August and approved in the first reading today...

Civilians continue to leave Donbas, whilst shelling allegedly continues to take a significant toll on human life. Maidan Square in Kyiv and its environs are all but clear of tents and barricades...

Detention of those considered supporters of the “LPR” in the Luhansk region continues. People continue to flee Luhansk city. The clearance of the Maidan (Independence Square) in Kyiv is almost complete...

ANKARA, 11 August 2014 – Three candidates, representing different political positions, were generally able to campaign freely, and freedoms of assembly and association were respected in the 10 August presidential election in Turkey, international election observers said in a statement issued today. However, the Prime Minister’s use of his official position, along with biased media coverage, gave him a distinct advantage over the other candidates...

VIENNA, 11 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about reports that Andrey Stenin, a photojournalist with the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, went missing in eastern Ukraine on 5 August...

A two-day workshop bringing together various state institutions and organizations dealing with issues of domestic violence was held on 7 and 8 August 2014 at the initiative of the ‘Social Justice’ NGO with the support from the OSCE Office in Yerevan...

The SMM observed that the Donetsk railway station was open. In Shakhtarsk running water is available for only two hours per day, and gas and electricity has been unavailable since 27 July...

BERN, 8 August 2014- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister, Didier Burkhalter, welcomed today’s announcement by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that it would step up activities for the affected population in deteriorating humanitarian and security environments and deploy additional teams...

ANKARA, 8 August 2014 – Senior OSCE parliamentarians have arrived in Ankara to lead the OSCE’s short-term observation mission for Turkey’s presidential election this weekend...

Internally displaced persons from Luhansk continued to inform the SMM about troubling humanitarian conditions in the city. The SMM visited a Ukrainian Border Guard encampment, one kilometre from the Russian border, and saw evidence that it had been shelled. The SMM saw evidence consistent with an artillery attack in two high-rise blocks and a local hospital in Donetsk city. It also observed an unsuccessful attempt to remove the tent town in Kyiv’s Maidan square...

VIENNA, 8 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović deplored today the intensifying harassment of media freedom activists and organizations, most recently the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) and its Chair Emin Huseynov...

VIENNA, 8 August 2014 – Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media expressed concern today over the targeting of prominent Turkish journalist Amberin Zaman by the highest authorities in Turkey...

A two-day training seminar for law enforcement officers on investigative techniques and methods to counter trafficking in human beings is taking place in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 8 and 9 August 2014...

BISHKEK, 8 August 2014- Forty-four secondary school children will hold a session of the OSCE Youth Model Parliament in the hall of the Kyrgyz Parliament. The Youth Model Parliament programme is managed by the American Councils for International Education (ACTR/ACCELS) with the support of OSCE Centre in Bishkek...

Kyiv, 7 August 2014- The SMM observed damage to two high-rise buildings and a hospital, indicating that they had recently been shelled. One man was killed and one injured in the vicinity of the hospital.

The SMM together with Dutch, Malaysian and Australian teams of experts went to the village of Rozsypne to encourage inhabitants to hand over any remaining personal belongings. In Donetsk the SMM observed areas affected by alleged shelling...

BELGRADE, 7 August 2014- The Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Ambassador Peter Burkhard, welcomed the announcement made by the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Kori Udovicki regarding the upcoming elections to the National Minority Councils...

A group of some 90 children in the city of Korça, in south-west of Albania took part in interactive and fun activities organized by the OSCE Presence in Albania on 5 August 2014, to help them understand topics such as human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination...