OSCE member states extend Ukraine mission mandate for six months

VIENNA, July 22 /ITAR-TASS/. Member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) decided on Tuesday to extend the mandate of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine for a further six months, the organization said on its website on Tuesday. The decision taken by consensus indicates that “the scope for a cooperative solution to the Ukraine crisis persists among the 57 participating states even under the current challenging circumstances,” OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter said. The timely extension of the current mandate, which will expire on September 20, 2014, allows the mission to operate uninterrupted, he said. The mission’s mandate and the deployment of monitors to Kherson, Odessa, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Chernivtsi, and Luhansk, with Kyiv as head office, remain unchanged, the OSCE said. “The mission’s aim is to contribute to reducing tensions and fostering peace, stability and security; its mandate comprises tasks such as gathering information, reporting on the security situation as well as establishing and reporting facts regarding incidents, including those concerning alleged violations of fundamental OSCE principles and commitments, monitoring the human rights situation including the rights of minorities and facilitating dialogue on the ground to promote normalization of the situation,” the OSCE said. At present, the monitoring mission includes 227 monitors from 41 countries plus local staff, the OSCE said. Learn more on itar-tass.com