Weekly Update from the OSCE Observer Mission at Russian Checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk based on information as of 13 October 2015
Please note that this report is for media and the general public. SUMMARY Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall cross-border traffic increased at both BCPs DETAIL OM’s staff composition The OM is currently operating with 18 staff...
Designers from Spain, Morocco and Ukraine win OSCE competition highlighting security risks of climate change
VIENNA, 14 October 2015 – The OSCE is pleased to announce the winners of its visual design contest to help raise awareness about the security risks linked to climate change. Co-sponsored by eYeka, a global community of creative designers, the OSCE competition attracted 125 entries from 22 OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation....
OSCE-supported seminar agrees co-operation modalities to improve identification of human trafficking victims in Ukraine
KYIV, 15 October 2015 – Inter-agency co-operation between law enforcers and social service providers to improve the identification of human trafficking victims is the focus of a two-day workshop, which started today with the support of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine. More than 140 social service providers, law enforcement officers and...
Russia is thinking on how to return the occupied territories back to Ukraine
Leading expert of Political and Legal Programmes of the Razumkov Centre Viktor Zamiatin commented for the Ukraine Today on recent decision by the Russian-backed militants to postpone until early 2016 the so-called local elections in the occupied east Ukraine’s territories: “It is just the first signal that Russia and their collaborationists...
Evaluating Harper’s Office of Religious Freedom
With the federal election days away, and the spotlight on the current government’s accomplishments and follies, an unprecedented initiative of Prime Minister Stephen Harper comes to mind: the Office of Religious Freedom (ORF), which was announced in February 2013 at Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at in Toronto. Deemed a positive step forward...
How Can Anyone Still Be An Interventionist?
Given the ongoing disasters in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and the rest of the Middle East, how can anyone in his right mind still be an interventionist? Look at Iraq. The US invasion and multi-year occupation of that country was supposed to bring a paradise of peace, prosperity, and harmony to the country. That’s what killing...
A ‘Royal Rumble’ in Syria means yet more chaos for civilians
Uneasy allies? Alexei Druzhinin/REUTERSAs a child, I would eagerly await the annual World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) “Royal Rumble” – 30 of the best wrestlers, all in one ring, fighting it out in a lengthy and often brutal (and yes, scripted) affair over the course of hours to be the last man standing. The most entertaining part, I found,...
MH-17 Final Report: Who Shot Down The Plane?
The long-awaited final report of the Dutch Safety Board on the 2014 shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17 over Ukraine came out yesterday, but it offered very little in terms of what actually happened. With the most powerful intelligence apparatus on earth, how is it that the US cannot bring forth evidence to back its claims about Russian...
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, based on information received as of 19:30hrs, 12 October 2015
This report is for the media and general public. The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements”. Its monitoring was restricted by the parties and security considerations*. The SMM revisited three Ukrainian Armed Forces and two “DPR” heavy weapons holding areas. Verification of...
Europe On the Edge Again
Could the Baltic states‘ stance on Russia be adopted by the EU after testing times? …read more Source: Transitions Online...
