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COPENHAGEN, 19 October 2021 – In recent days, the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine has faced undue restrictions on its freedom of movement, a troubling development that OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on Eastern Europe Daniela De Ridder (Germany) said today must be reversed.

“The Special Monitoring Mission is not only the OSCE’s biggest and highest profile operation, but also one of its most vital,” De Ridder said. “Mandated since 2014 to observe and report impartially on the situation in Ukraine, it has been an invaluable tool in documenting ceasefire violations, providing essential data to policymakers, and facilitating dialogue among belligerents. I remind all parties to the conflict that the SMM is authorized by consensus decisions of all 57 OSCE participating States, and that its freedom of movement must be unconditionally respected.”

Over the past few days, according to the SMM, it has been restricted in its activities in multiple ways, including checkpoints and blockades of forward patrol bases.

Following the closure of the OSCE Observer Mission at the Russian Checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk on the Russian-Ukrainian border at the end of September, the SMM has been the OSCE’s last remaining tool to provide some transparency in the seven year-old conflict that has left more than 14,000 dead.

As Special Representative De Ridder underlined today, the restrictions on SMM workers further limits transparency and undermines confidence.