News and press releases

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 5 June 2024 – The OSCE Mission launched the report “From Paper to Practice- Evaluating the Effectiveness of Judicial Response to serious Organized Crime and Corruption in the Western Balkans”- an analysis of the justice system in Kosovo, as part of a wider regional OSCE project carried out with EU financial support.

The presentation aimed to create a platform for discussion, identify and exchange good practices developed in specific regional contexts, and develop targeted bilateral approaches for more strategic engagement of all stakeholders, including civil society organizations and international bodies.

The OSCE Asian Partners for Co-Operation Group and OSCE participating States met in Vienna on 3 June to discuss the pressing issue of Afghan women’s rights, emphasizing the broader implications for regional and global stability. This event focused on exploring actionable strategies for empowering Afghan women and mitigating the challenges they face. The meeting brought together high-level representatives and experts to address the significant challenges faced by Afghan women and the global implications of their plight. This special meeting was organized by North Macedonia as Chair of the OSCE Asian Partners for Co-operation Group.

BELGRADE, 3 June 2024 – Serbia’s local elections were well run and freedom of expression and assembly were respected, but the dominance of the ruling party as well as the fragmentation of the opposition reduced their competitiveness, while allegations of widespread pressure on public sector employees and misuse of public resources favoured the ruling coalition, international observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said in a statement today.

The OSCE Mission supported a delegation of six senior officials of the Kosovo Academy for Public Safety (KAPS) and its public safety agencies to conduct a visit to North Carolina Justice Academy (NCJA) in the United States (US) from 27 May to 1 June 2024. The visit was part of Mission’s continued

On 29-30 May, 2024, the OSCE Programme Office in Astana, in collaboration with the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM), conducted a training seminar in Almaty. The seminar focused on combating money laundering arising from tax crimes, entrepreneurial activities, and public procurement offenses. This initiative is part of a broader, multi-year co-operation aimed at strengthening Kazakhstan’s capacity to counter money laundering and terrorist financing.

Investigating online terrorist-related crimes in line with human rights and gender-sensitive approaches was the focus of a training-of-trainer course held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 28 to 31 May 2024 by the OSCE Secretariat Transnational Threats Department and the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan.