It has been decided to extend the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine for six more months, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Swiss President Didier Burkhalter said.
According to a statement posted on the OSCE website, the time, when OSCE participating states could object to this decision, expired at noon on July 22. Due to this Burkhalter said he thanked all countries for supporting this mission.
“The timely extension of the current mandate, which will expire on September 20, 2014, allows the mission to operate uninterrupted,” the document said.
The OSCE plays an important role in ensuring access to the Malaysian Boeing crash, Burkhalter said. “The Chairperson-in-Office called upon all sides to allow monitors to fulfill their tasks unhindered, and to assure the safety of the monitors also at the crash site in line with the Declaration of the Permanent Council of July 18,” the statement said.
Burkhalter said he thanked the Special Monitoring Mission leadership and the entire team for their work and commitment to stabilize the situation in Ukraine.
OSCE monitors follow the situation in Kherson, Odessa, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Chernivtsi, Luhansk, and Kyiv, where the head office is, and this mandate remains unchanged, the document said. The mission’s goal is to assist to de-escalation and to enhance peace, stability and security in Ukraine, the OSCE said. The mission currently includes 227 monitors from 41 countries plus local staff.
The OSCE monitoring mission was sent to Ukraine for six months starting from March 21.
