News and press releases

Summary The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region, compared with the previous reporting period, and again no ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. From 00:01 on 27 July until the end of the reporting period, the SMM recorded a total of 121 ceasefire violations. The Mission

VIENNA, 29 July 2020- The Special Representative of the Albanian OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian Settlement Process, Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting welcomed yesterday’s meeting in Condrita between Moldovan President Igor Dodon and Transdniestrian leader Vadim Krasnoselsky...

Summary Following the meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on 22 July, which reached agreement regarding additional measures to strengthen the ceasefire as of 00:01 on 27 July, the SMM recorded 111 ceasefire violations, all in Donetsk region, including 21 explosions. The Mission continued

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...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 24 and 25 July, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. Between the evenings of 25 and 26 July, the SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region

COPENHAGEN, 27 July 2020 – Following an announcement stating Poland's intention to withdraw from a treaty on combating violence against women, the leaders of the OSCE PA’s human rights committee expressed concerns over the ongoing developments...

The OSCE launched a new project on 24 July 2020 aimed at increasing and supporting the participation of women at all levels of policing, with the first pilot activities taking place in Montenegro. The project was developed to raise awareness at policy and police levels about the under-representation of women in the police across the OSCE area...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Small-arms fire was assessed as directed at an SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle near Orikhove, Luhansk region. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement

WARSAW, 25 July 2020 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) expresses profound sadness following the death of the human rights defender Azimjan Askarov in prison earlier today. Askarov, a long-standing partner of ODIHR, spent many years prior to his arrest in 2010 documenting police abuse and brutality in his native Kyrgyzstan.

MOSCOW / PARIS / WASHINGTON, DC, 24 July 2020- The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stéphane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (PRCIO) Andrzej Kasprzyk released the following statement today:

As part of its ongoing series to discuss Uzbekistan’s State Programme for the year 2020, the OSCE Project Co-Ordinator in Uzbekistan on 23 July 2020 co-organized a third online discussion, this time focused on strengthening the national Parliament, increasing the role of political parties, and reforming state and public governance...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The SMM corroborated reports of a woman who was injured due to shelling in the Trudivski area of Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi district in June. On two separate

COPENHAGEN, 24 July 2020 – Members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s elected Bureau today urged the personal attention of the Foreign Ministers of OSCE participating States to address the institutional crisis currently impacting the organization...

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. During evening and night hours, it saw people within

TIRANA, 23 July 2020 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania, Edi Rama, welcomed the agreement reached yesterday by the Trilateral Contact Group, with the participation of representatives of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, regarding additional measures to strengthen the ceasefire, aiming to ensure compliance with a comprehensive, sustainable and unlimited ceasefire. The agreement is due to come into force from 27 July 2020 until the comprehensive settlement of the conflict...

KYIV, 23 July 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 Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. It saw people within former positions inside the

VIENNA, 22 July 2020 – To reverse the alarming fall in the number of prosecutions for human trafficking in recent years, Chairperson of the OSCE Permanent Council Ambassador Igli Hasani and the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings Valiant Richey today called on the Organization’s 57 participating States to triple the number of prosecutions for this crime within the next three years...

VIENNA / KYIV, 22 July 2020 – Ukraine’s Defence Minister Andrii Taran today addressed the last meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) under the country’s Chair. Addressing the meeting remotely from Kyiv, he said Ukraine had chaired this decision-making body during “unprecedented circumstances” of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and “ongoing aggression on its territorial integrity and sovereignty"...

COPENHAGEN, 22 July 2020 – With the OSCE’s leaders’ mandates having expired on 18 July due to a failure to reach agreement among governmental representatives in Vienna, a group of current and former leaders of the OSCE’s parliamentary dimension called today for immediate action to ensure that the organization can continue to function.

Summary Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. An explosion occurred near an SMM patrol close to Zalizne. The Mission lost spatial control of one of its mini-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), due to signal interference,

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 increased at both BCPs compared to the previous week...

VIENNA / TBILISI, 21 July, 2020- The co-facilitators of the Ergneti Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM), the Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia Ambassador Marek Szczygieł and the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus Ambassador Rudolf Michalka underline the importance of dialogue for reducing tensions and preventing incidents along the South Ossetian Administrative Boundary Line.

On 20 July, an SMM patrol comprising four members and two vehicles was positioned on the south-western edge of Zalizne (formerly Artemove, government-controlled, 42km north-east of Donetsk) to monitor adherence to a localised ceasefire to enable an assessment and maintenance of the phenol sludge

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 17 and 18 July, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Between the evenings of 18 and 19 July, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions

VIENNA, 20 July 2020 – Identifying effective ways to improve the prosecution of human traffickers is the focus of the 20th high-level OSCE Alliance Conference against Trafficking in Persons, which opened today in Vienna...

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

COPENHAGEN, 16 July 2020 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli has closely followed the situation along the border of Azerbaijan and Armenia and has been in contact this week with the countries’ OSCE PA delegations and relevant international actors. Today, he urged both sides to urgently de-escalate and to engage in “substantive negotiations"...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to localised

VIENNA / STOCKHOLM, 16 July 2020 – With the current pandemic putting a severe strain on societies all over the world, Sweden will take on the OSCE Chair in truly challenging times. This calls for a focus on the very fundamentals of the OSCE: the European security order, the comprehensive concept of security and continued efforts to resolve conflicts in the OSCE region, said Sweden’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Robert Rydberg today, as he addressed the Permanent Council on the incoming Chair’s priority areas...

SKOPJE, 16 July 2020 – The early parliamentary elections in North Macedonia were generally well run and candidates could campaign freely, but legal stability was undermined by significant revisions to the legal framework and subsequent government decrees, international observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said in a statement today.

COPENHAGEN, 16 July 2020 – The leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions expressed concern today that Belarus had failed to extend a timely invitation to the OSCE to observe its upcoming presidential election. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) announced yesterday that the lack of an invitation has prevented ODIHR from observing the election process...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to localised

VIENNA, 15 July 2020- After the meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group today, its Co-Chairs (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stéphane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (PRCIO) Andrzej Kasprzyk, released the following statement:

WARSAW, 15 July 2020 – The Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus that the lack of an invitation to observe the upcoming presidential election has precluded ODIHR from observing the ongoing election process.

Sharing advanced experience in the analysis of suspicious transactions reports (STR) and further financial investigation is the objective of an OSCE-organized online seminar that opened in Ashgabat on 15 July 2020. The two-day event will provide an overview of initial, operational and strategic analysis and financial investigation in efforts to combat money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

VIENNA/TIRANA, 14 July 2020 – “I am deeply concerned by the increased violence we have seen along the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and urge an immediate return to the ceasefire before we see any further loss of life,” said OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Albania’s Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Edi Rama today.

Summary Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and a similar number of ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. The SMM saw damage to a civilian property in Donetsk city’s Kuibyshevskyi district. The Mission continued monitoring the

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 increased at both BCPs compared to the previous week...

SKOPJE, 14 July 2020 – Observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) will hold a press conference to present their preliminary conclusions following the early parliamentary elections in North Macedonia.

COPENHAGEN, 13 July 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic, as an unprecedented global crisis that impacts all dimensions of security, has underlined the urgency of addressing long-standing challenges facing the OSCE area, including resolving conflicts, promoting environmental sustainability, managing migration, and ensuring democratic resiliency and social cohesion, a new OSCE Parliamentary Assembly report concludes.

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 10 and 11 July, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. Between the evenings of 11 and 12 July, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more

MOSCOW / PARIS / WASHINGTON D.C., 13 July 2020- The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stéphane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) , released the following statement today:

WARSAW, 13 July 2020 – While both candidates in Poland’s presidential run-off were able to campaign freely, hostility as well as biased coverage by the public broadcaster tarnished the election, international observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said in a statement today.