News and press releases

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. An SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle spotted

TIRANA / VIENNA, 17 July 2020 – In a letter to the OSCE’s 57 participating States today, Albania’s OSCE Chairmanship announced that the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Edi Rama has taken prompt action to ensure the Organization’s operational continuity in light of the imminent vacancies of the OSCE Secretary General and the Heads of Institutions roles...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and a significant increase in Luhansk region. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. An SMM long-range UAV spotted

The OSCE Project Co-Ordinator in Uzbekistan held an online conference on national and international experiences in liberalizing judicial and penitentiary systems on 17 July 2020, to mark Nelson Mandela International Day. The event was jointly organized with the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Oliy Majlis (parliament) of the Republic of Uzbekistan (Ombudsperson), the national movement Yuksalish, the UN Country Team and the regional office of NGO Prison Reform International in Central Asia (PRI).

OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger and the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Ghada Fathi Waly signed a plan of joint action for the period 2020-2022 today at UNODC in Vienna...

WARSAW, 17 July 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic has been a formative experience for all humanity and a health emergency of global proportions, presenting a huge challenge to national leaders, health systems, and citizens. The findings of a new report by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) shows that it has also been a test to our democracies and the respect for human rights to which countries across the OSCE committed many years ago.

ODIHR's recommendations on Azerbaijan 2020 elections ODIHR final report on the 2020 Azerbaijan early parliamentary elections A restrictive legal and political landscape meant that voters in the early parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan were not provided with meaningful choice despite a high