News and press releases

An OSCE-supported seminar on staying safe in cyberspace was organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan on 11 June 2020.

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 12 June 2020 – The OSCE Mission in Kosovo launched its report “Children First: The Role of Centres for Social Work in Judicial Proceedings” today. The report looks into the protection of the rights of children, with a special focus on the role of Centres for Social Work (CSW) in judicial proceedings involving children...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Members of the armed formations continued to deny the Mission passage at checkpoints along official crossing routes in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.* The SMM continued

KYIV, 10 June 2020 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group, Ambassador Heidi Grau, made the following statement to the press:

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM followed up on reports of a man injured due to shelling in Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi district. An SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle spotted during

COPENHAGEN, 9 June 2020 – In the second of a series of informal meetings to focus on regional aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, parliamentarians from Central Asian countries met online Tuesday with OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (Georgia) and Secretary General Roberto Montella. The OSCE parliamentarians were joined by the representatives of OSCE field operations in Central Asia, as well as regional experts from the OSCE Conflict Prevention Center, OSCE Secretariat, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities.

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.

Summary Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Small-arms fire was assessed as directed at an SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle flying over areas north-east of the Proletarskyi district of Donetsk city. The SMM saw damage

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 5 and 6 June, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and recorded no ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. Between the evenings of 6 and 7 June, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in

VIENNA / SARAJEVO, 8 June 2020 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, and Kathleen Kavalec, Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, strongly condemned today the physical attack and threats against RTV Zenica journalist Sinan Gluhić.

VIENNA, 8 June 2020 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, expressed his dismay today over the prison sentences handed down to journalists Özgür Boğatekin and Metin Uca in Turkey.

BELGRADE, 8 June 2020 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened a special election assessment mission (SEAM) for the 21 June parliamentary elections in Serbia. The deployment follows an official invitation from the Serbian authorities...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. An SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle spotted, during evening hours, a convoy of trucks entering Ukraine and another convoy exiting Ukraine on a dirt

COPENHAGEN, 6 June 2020 – Welcoming the agreement on electoral reform in Albania, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli, Special Representative on South East Europe Mark Pritchard and Secretary General Roberto Montella issued the following joint statement today...

COPENHAGEN, 5 June 2020 – While much of the international community’s attention is currently focused on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional threats such as terrorism and violent extremism are as relevant as ever and must remain high on the international agenda, participants said at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s seventh meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Countering Terrorism (CCT) today...

From 30 May to 5 June, members of the armed formations again denied SMM attempts to cross into non-government-controlled areas along official crossing routes: six times in Donetsk region and four times in Luhansk region, while further attempts to cross into government-controlled areas were also denied, once in Donetsk region and three times in Luhansk region...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and recorded ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. Small-arms fire was assessed as directed at two SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) flying over areas near Petrivske and

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and recorded no ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. Members of the armed formations continued to deny the SMM passage at checkpoints along official crossing routes in Donetsk and

The Balkan Asset Management Interagency Network (BAMIN) Steering Group held an online meeting, supported by the OSCE, on 3 June 2020...

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as part of its wider initiative to support the country in its pandemic response, on 4 June 2020 in Zenica, provided IT equipment for the social protection institution “Dom porodica”, a home for children without parental care...

On 3 June, an SMM patrol was tasked with maintenance of the SMM camera system located about 200m east of the north-eastern corner of the disengagement area near Petrivske (non-government-controlled, 41km south of Donetsk) after the Mission had lost video feeds from the camera system at about 14:30 on 2 June. The system consists of a daylight and a thermal camera and is generally directed south-west towards the disengagement area. The patrol saw that both boxes housing the cameras had sustained damage, assessed as caused by small-arms fire...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Members of the armed formations continued to deny the SMM passage at checkpoints along official crossing routes in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.* The Mission

On 3 June 2020, high school students from the Municipality of Jajce, represented by the Student Council of the Secondary Vocational School Jajce, handed over IT equipment for the Secondary Vocational School and “Nikola Sop” Secondary School, with the support of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)...

A three-day online training course aimed at strengthening the capacity of Turkmenistan to counter terrorist financing was organized from 1 to 3 June 2020. Eighteen experts and practitioners from the Financial Monitoring Service under the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministries of Internal Affairs and of National Security, and the Prosecutor’s Office of Turkmenistan participated in the course...

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...

Summary Compared with the previous 24 hours, the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. On two separate occasions, small-arms fire was assessed as directed at an SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), flying over and near the disengagement area

COPENHAGEN, 2 June 2020- Following reports of the detention of numerous political activists engaged in activities related to the upcoming presidential election in Belarus, the leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's human rights committee, Chair Kyriakos Hadjiyianni (Cyprus), Vice-Chair Michael Link (Germany), and Rapporteur and Kari Henriksen (Norway), released the following statement...

Seventeen young men and women from across North Macedonia participated in an online capacity-building training course for youth leaders on preventing violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism (P/CVERLT). The OSCE Mission to Skopje organized the course, held from 19 May to 2 June 2020, with technical support provided by the Action against Terrorism Unit of the OSCE Transnational Threats Department. The course builds on a module delivered in February...

The OSCE Centre in Ashgabat organized a two-day online presentation of expert recommendations for the digital transformation of print media in Turkmenistan, which started 2 June 2020.

On 28 and 29 May 2020 in Tirana, the OSCE Presence in Albania, in co-operation with the Law Faculty at the University of Tirana, organized a workshop with the academic staff of the new Master Programme in Criminology, aimed to improve capacities of professionals, academics and policy-makers to identify root causes of crime...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 29 and 30 May, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. Between the evenings of 30 and 31 May, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more

VIENNA, 1 June 2020 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, expressed his concern today regarding the wave of violence against journalists covering protests across the United States of America in recent days...

A vast majority of Ukrainian civil and administrative court cases concerning the interests of a minor are being examined without involving the minor in question. This is one of the key findings of monitoring and research conducted by civil society on the initiative of Ukraine’s Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. The research was supported by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine...

COPENHAGEN, 1 June 2020 – Today, the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Georgian parliamentarian George Tsereteli, issued the following statement on the situation in the United States...

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as part of its wider initiative to support Bosnia and Herzegovina in its pandemic response, on 1 June 2020 in Bihac, provided IT equipment for the Una Sana Canton Ministry of Education...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. Explosion occurred close to SMM patrol near Molodizhne, Luhansk region The SMM saw damage from small-arms fire to a residential house in Avdiivka,

On 29 May, an SMM patrol comprising five members and two vehicles was positioned at a checkpoint of the armed formations about 1.7km south-west of Molodizhne (non-government-controlled, 63km west of Luhansk). A patrol member was outside his vehicle, interacting with the members of the armed formations in order to move across the checkpoint, which was blocked by an improvised barrier...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. Members of the armed formations continued to deny the Mission passage at checkpoints along official crossing routes in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.* The

From 23 to 29 May, members of the armed formations again denied SMM attempts to cross into non-government-controlled areas along official crossing routes: five times in Donetsk region and four times in Luhansk region, while further attempts to cross into government-controlled areas were also

Preparations for the first ever Albanian anti-trafficking simulation-based training started at an online meeting on 29 May 2020. The OSCE Presence in Albania and the Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking presented Albania’s group of experts that will design the specific training for Albania with the methodology of this flagship OSCE approach to capacity-building in this field...

At the imminent opening of Albania’s borders, the OSCE Presence, on 28 May 2020 in Tirana, donated personal protection equipment against COVID-19, worth 20,000 euro, to Albania’s Border Police...

VIENNA, 29 May 2020 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, expressed his concern today about Tajikistan’s Supreme Court ruling to block access to the Akhbor.com news site in the country on the grounds of providing a platform to “terrorist and extremist organizations”...

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as part of its wider initiative to support Bosnia and Herzegovina in its pandemic response, on 29 May 2020 in Livno, provided IT equipment for the Ministry of Education Canton 10...

COPENHAGEN, 29 May 2020 – Addressing the leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in an online forum today, OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger discussed the challenges that COVID-19 is posing to multilateral diplomacy and highlighted how the OSCE has responded with flexibility and resilience in the face of the crisis...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. Members of the armed formations continued to deny the Mission passage at checkpoints along official crossing routes in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.* The

Officials from Turkmenistan’s institutions and representatives of non-governmental entities, involved in the Eurasian Group on combatting money laundering and financing of terrorism (EAG)ut Mual Evaluation process are participating in OSCE-organized online consultations from 27 to 30 May 2020 in Ashgabat.

KYIV, 28 May 2020 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group, Ambassador Heidi Grau, made the following statement to the press after the regular meetings of the TCG and its working groups through video-conferencing:...

Summary Compared with the previous reporting period, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. Members of the armed formations continued to deny the Mission passage at a checkpoint along an official crossing route in Luhansk region.* The Mission

ODIHR recommendations on Tajikistan 2020 elections ODIHR final report on the 2020 Tajikistan parliamentary elections The 2020 parliamentary elections in Tajikistan took place in a tightly controlled environment in which there was no space left for a pluralistic political debate and voters did not

An OSCE-organized online training on border crossing facilitation for transit goods carried by rail and road, opened in Ashgabat on 27 May 2020. The training is organized within the framework of the Centre’s extra-budgetary project on “Strengthening State Border Service Capacities in Turkmenistan”, which places a particular focus on promoting cross-border trade and transit in the Central Asian region.