Central Asian Youth Network alumni learn about OSCE in Vienna

Four students from the Central Asian Youth Network (CAYN) learnt about the work of OSCE and its institutions during a two-day study visit to Vienna, which concluded on 6 November 2015.

The alumni attended a session of the OSCE Permanent Council and met representatives of various units of the OSCE Secretariat, including the Conflict Prevention Centre, the Communication and Media Relations Section, the Representative on Freedom of the Media, the Transnational Threats Department, the Office of the Co-ordinator of Economic and the Environmental Activities, and the Office for the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.

They also met with Anna-Katharina Deininger, the Special Representative of Serbia’s 2015 OSCE Chairmanship on Youth and Security, who had attended July’s CAYN seminar marking 40 years since the Helsinki Final Act.

The students had an opportunity to talk to representatives of the OSCE Chairmanship, the United States Mission to the OSCE, delegations from Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. They had individual meetings with the Permanent Representative of their respective countries.

The trip was organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana with financial and logistical support from other OSCE field operations in Central Asia and the Conflict Prevention Centre.

The Central Asian Youth Network was launched in 2004 to enhance promising students' knowledge and understanding of contemporary security threats as well as the OSCE's role in addressing these challenges.