News and press releases

COPENHAGEN, 17 June 2015 – The Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), will visit Rome, Lampedusa, Catania and Mineo this week to address Europe’s migrant and refugee crisis from one of its primary frontlines...

VIENNA, 17 June 2015 – A greater focus on conflict prevention, stronger leadership and a legal personality are some of the ways to make the OSCE work more effectively and more efficiently, said Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, chairperson of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) and chairperson of the Panel of Eminent Persons on European Security as a Common Project, as he presented the Panel’s Interim Report today in Vienna...

An international colloquium focusing on current trends in conciliation as a means of peaceful settlement of disputes was organized by the OSCE Court of Conciliation and Arbitration on 11 and 12 June 2015 in Vienna...

The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements”. Its monitoring was restricted by third parties and security considerations*. The situation at and around Donetsk airport was relatively calm, with fewer ceasefire violations recorded by the SMM compared to previous days...

VIENNA, 16 June 2015 – In view of the upcoming 32nd round of the Geneva International Discussions which is scheduled for 30 June to 1 July, Ambassador Angelo Gnaedinger, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus, Ambassador Herbert Salber, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, as well as UN Senior Political Affairs Advisor Hailu Mamo held consultations with participants in Tbilisi, Sukhumi, Tskhinvali and Moscow...

MINSK, 16 June 2015 – Strengthening OSCE engagement with Belarus was the focus of a two-day visit to Minsk by OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier and Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Michael Georg Link which concluded today...

The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements”. Its monitoring was restricted by third parties and security considerations*. The SMM observed numerous ceasefire violations at and around Donetsk airport. The SMM visited weapons holding areas and observed that some weapons previously documented were no longer present, both at government-controlled and “DPR”-controlled sites...