News and press releases

COPENHAGEN, 27 October 2020 – In a discussion today with the Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum Notis Mitarachi, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on Migration members heard about the situation following the fires which destroyed the Moria Reception and Identification Centre in early September. Minister Mitarachi also provided an update on the handling of the coronavirus outbreak in the context of migration as well as plans for future reception and accommodation of asylum seekers...

The OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan supported a series of online discussions as part of the “Newcomer Fest on Human Rights”, which was launched on 27 October 2020. The Fest will see a number of awareness-raising and learning activities held for local community representatives on the importance of human rights and their protection.

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan organized a training course for judges from 22 to 24 October 2020 on best practices and challenges in the field of countering gender-based violence, and State and judicial responses to combating domestic violence and human trafficking amid the COVID-19 pandemic...

The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe launched the second round of the Sustained Field Operation Course for representatives of Tajikistan’s Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence on 26 October 2020. The four-week course aims at improving the rescuers’ skills and capacities to help prepare them for conducting complex rescue operations in difficult field conditions across the country...

Summary Between the evenings of 23 and 25 October, the SMM recorded 38 ceasefire violations in Donetsk region. In the previous reporting period, it recorded no ceasefire violations in the region. Between the evenings of 23 and 25 October, the Mission recorded ten ceasefire violations in Luhansk

KYIV, 26 October 2020 – Ukraine’s local elections were conducted under a substantially revised legal framework which, despite some improvements, requires further refinement to address remaining shortcomings, international observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said in a statement today. The Central Election Commission administered the elections professionally and efficiently, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the work of territorial commissions was often politicized, and was negatively affected by frequent replacements of their members.

Washington D.C., 25 October, 2020- The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) released the following statement today: