News and press releases

COPENHAGEN, 3 December 2020 – Thirty years after the signing of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, despite the OSCE’s notable contributions to strengthening security and promoting stability, the level of distrust is probably higher than it has ever been since the fall of the Iron Curtain, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli said at the opening of the 27th Ministerial Council today. To counter this trend, the PA President urged the Foreign Ministers to increase the level of political interest in the organization and focus on implementation of OSCE commitments...

TIRANA/VIENNA, 3 December 2020 – It’s time to “turn the corner” and overcome the current crisis in co-operation, said OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania, Edi Rama, in his opening statement to over 50 foreign ministers and senior diplomats gathered in Tirana and online for the 27th OSCE Ministerial Council...

The OSCE Presence in Albania, in co-operation with the Albanian School of Magistrates, organized a two-day virtual training course on 2 and 3 December 2020 on the role of prosecutors in investigating criminal offences and their leadership skills for Albania’s Prosecutors and Judicial Police officers...

The State Commission on Religious Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic held the 4th International Conference titled "Islam in a Modern Secular State: Experience of Interfaith Co-operation", on 26 November 2020, in partnership with the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek.

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan is conducting a second training course for 18 women representatives of local authorities from Samarkand, Djizzakh, Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya regions from 30 November to 4 December 2020.

Summary The SMM recorded 12 ceasefire violations in Donetsk region. In the previous reporting period, the Mission recorded eight ceasefire violations in the region. The Mission recorded eight ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. In the previous reporting period, it recorded no ceasefire

The OSCE launched the first fully online version of its training course, ‘Python Programming for Investigators’, on 30 November 2020 in collaboration with the European Cybercrime Training and Education Group (ECTEG) for cybercrime investigators in the Georgian Criminal Police Department and trainers of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.

Summary The SMM recorded eight ceasefire violations in Donetsk region. In the previous 24 hours, the Mission recorded 76 ceasefire violations in the region. The SMM recorded no ceasefire violations in Luhansk region, as in the previous 24 hours. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement

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...

The 2020 OSCE Annual Meeting of the Police Academies Network (PAN), held on 27 November 2020, gathered over 50 participants and focused on how Police Academies can deliver training programmes that develop and strengthen sound attitudes among police in preventing excessive use of force, even in difficult and/or dangerous situations...

Summary Between the evenings of 27 and 29 November, the SMM recorded 76 ceasefire violations in Donetsk region. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 24 ceasefire violations in the region. Between the evenings of 27 and 29 November, the SMM recorded 87 ceasefire violations in Luhansk

Summary The SMM recorded 24 ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and five in Luhansk region. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 38 ceasefire violation in Donetsk region and none in Luhansk region. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote

Summary The SMM recorded 38 ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and none in Luhansk region. In the previous reporting period, it recorded one ceasefire violation in Donetsk region and four in Luhansk region. Three children sustained injuries when an object exploded in Dmytrivka, Donetsk region.

The OSCE supported the annual general meeting of the Balkan Asset Management Interagency Network (BAMIN) on 26 November 2020, bringing together representatives of national asset management and asset recovery offices of sixteen jurisdictions (14 BAMIN member and three guest jurisdictions), together with officials from the BAMIN Secretariat and the OSCE...

The OSCE Presence in Albania and the University of Tirana launched the Centre for Justice and Transformation – a multi-disciplinary research centre in the field of transitional justice – at an online event on 26 November 2020...

To strengthen capacities of civil society organization (CSOs) in using digital platforms, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro organized two online training courses on 16 and 17 November and from 25 to 27 November 2020.

Management approaches and tools aimed at protecting oil and gas infrastructure from natural or human-made hazards was the topic of an OSCE-organized online seminar that took place on 26 and 27 November 2020.

The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe organized three online training courses on how to prevent corruption risks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The training courses took place online from 12 to 27 November with a special emphasis on risks in the health sector and in the state procurement process. Some 15 participants from Tajik government structures and civil society participated...

The OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan, in co-operation with the National Bar Association and NGO Legal Policy Research Centre, organized the fifth National Forum of Defence Lawyers on 27 November 2020...

Summary The SMM recorded one ceasefire violation in Donetsk region and four in Luhansk region. In the previous reporting period, it recorded five ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and none in Luhansk region. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska,

The Strategic Police Matters Unit of the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department (SPMU) presented the achievements and lessons learned from the four-year extra budgetary project on Intelligence-led Policing (ILP) during the project’s concluding conference on 26 November 2020...

Conciliation as a flexible method for the peaceful settlement of disputes was the focus of a webinar held on 13 November 2020, and the launch of the book, Flexibility in International Dispute Settlement – Conciliation Revisited, which was edited by Christian Tomuschat (former President of the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration within the OSCE and Member of the Court’s current Bureau) and Marcelo Kohen (Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva)...

On 26 November at 07:19 (Moscow time), the ninety-eighth Russian convoy arrived at the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP). A total of seven vehicles were checked by Russian Federation border guards and customs officers prior to their crossing into Ukraine. All seven vehicles had crossed back into the Russian Federation by 17:04 on 26 November...

The importance of the social re-use of assets recovered from organized crime and corruption as a public good, and the potential lever it creates to reduce crime and corruption was the focus of an online workshop the OSCE held for participants from Albania on 24 November 2020. The event brought together law enforcement practitioners and representatives of the Agency for the Administration of Seized and Confiscated Assets, local and international civil society organizations and academia...

Enhancing economic connectivity perspectives and the operationalization of Euro-Asian inland transport links (EATL) were the focus of virtual consultations held by the OSCE and the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) on 26 November 2020...

Enhancing co-operation on human rights promotion and protection was the focus of an OSCE-organized online seminar that took place on 25 and 26 November 2020...

COPENHAGEN, 26 November 2020 – One week before the Ministerial Council, the OSCE’s central decision-making body, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli addressed ambassadors at today’s Permanent Council meeting in Vienna. Noting that it has now been 30 years since governments came together to adopt the Charter of Paris for a New Europe and promote relations founded on respect and co-operation, he stressed that the OSCE must reach its potential to help build a safer and more stable future...

VIENNA/NICOSIA, 26 November 2020 — Under the auspices of the Cyprus Media Dialogue project, the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM) organized an online event today to conclude the second exchange opportunity for journalists from the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities...

An OSCE-supported international online conference entitled “Preventing Gender-based Violence against Women and Strengthening Women's Access to Justice” to mark the global campaign on 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence concluded on 26 November 2020.

KYIV, 25 November 2020 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Heidi Grau, made the following statement to the press after the regular meetings of the TCG and its Working Groups held through video conferencing:...

Summary The SMM recorded five ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and none in Luhansk region. In the previous reporting period, it recorded two ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and none in Luhansk region. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska,

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an immediate reduction in energy demand and carbon emissions and has curbed investments across the sector with uncertain consequences for the energy transition, state participants of the Third Vienna Energy Strategy Dialogue titled “Implications of the global energy transition” held virtually on 24 November 2020 from Vienna...

TIRANA / VIENNA / WARSAW, 25 November 2020- On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and the start of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, OSCE leaders called on participating States to increase their efforts and resources to combat violence against women and girls, particularly in times of crises.

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department’s Action against Terrorism Unit, in co-operation with the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) organized an online train-the-trainer course from 23 to 25 November 2020, with the aim of strengthening Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) capacities in countering the financing of terrorism...

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro has joined the worldwide campaign “16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence”, that runs annually from 25 November, the International Day against Violence against Women, to 10 December, International Human Rights Day...

An OSCE-supported three-day seminar on the preparations for the expected second round of the Eurasian group’s (EAG) mutual evaluation of Kazakhstan’s compliance to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) standards on anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing (AML/CFT) efforts concluded on 25 November 2020 in Almaty...

On the occasion of the Annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the OSCE Presence in Albania joins the host country’s awareness-raising campaign modelled after the UN worldwide campaign. This year’s theme for the campaign is “Listen. Believe. Support.”

Summary In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded two ceasefire violations. In the previous 24 hours, the Mission recorded no ceasefire violations in the region. In Luhansk region, the SMM recorded no ceasefire violations. In the previous 24 hours, the Mission recorded 15 ceasefire violations in the

Enhancing prison health care systems was the focus of an OSCE-organized online seminar that took place on 23 and 24 November 2020.

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...

Representatives of the State Concerns “Turkmengas” and “Turkmenoil”, Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection and other relevant agencies of Turkmenistan discussed environmental protection in the oil and gas sector at an OSCE-organized online webinar on 23 and 24 November 2020.

Summary Between the evenings of 20 and 22 November, the SMM recorded three ceasefire violations in Donetsk region. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 32 ceasefire violations in the region. Between the evenings of 20 and 22 November, the SMM recorded 20 ceasefire violations in Luhansk

On 23 and 24 November 2020, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan is organizing a roundtable conference to discuss the main points of the Lund Recommendations and good practices from the OSCE area and Uzbekistan. The National Human Rights Centre of Uzbekistan and the office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities jointly organized the event.

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan organized a capacity-building training seminar for representatives from the Chamber of Advocates on best practices and exchange of experiences in the field of the institutional development of the institution of the bar. The event, held from 18 to 20 November 2020, was opened by Alim Ernazarov, Chairperson of the Chamber of Lawyers of Uzbekistan and Ambassador John MacGregor, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan.

The COVID-19 pandemic reminds us all that the local government level is the closest to its citizens, and thus better positioned to respond to their specific challenges and needs, stated participants of an online discussion hosted on 19 November 2020 by the OSCE Presence in Albania, with support of the Ministry of Interior. The meeting was held to discuss the key findings of a situation assessment report on the response of 13 targeted municipalities to the COVID-19 pandemic...

SARAJEVO, 23 November 2020 – The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) digitally presented today its third report on the monitoring of corruption cases before courts in BiH...

Summary The SMM recorded 32 ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and two in Luhansk region. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 23 ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and none in Luhansk region. The Mission followed up on reports of three men killed on 30 October by the detonation of

COPENHAGEN, 20 November 2020 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the French Delegation to the OSCE PA held a web-based roundtable today to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, which was adopted during the second Summit of Heads of State or Government of the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe, held in Paris from 19 to 21 November 1990...

Summary The SMM recorded 23 ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and none in Luhansk region. In the previous reporting period, it recorded seven ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and one in Luhansk region. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska,

WARSAW, 20 November 2020 – The ruling by the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court of Poland on 18 November 2020, stripping Judge Igor Tuleya of his immunity, raises concerns about judicial independence in the country...