News and press releases

The need for more gender-balanced political representation and the urgent need to end violence against women were key topics at the two-day regional expert conference titled Transforming Politics: Male Politicians as Critical Actors for Gender Equality and Eliminating Violence against Women. The conference, held on 5-6 June in Sarajevo, brought together over 70 participants, including parliament members, party leaders, government agency representatives, and civil society members from South-East Europe. It was jointly organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

More than 50 public officials, business and civil society representatives gathered in Sofia to discuss collaborative efforts in addressing human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation. Hosted by the Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and the Council of Europe's Anti-Trafficking Division, and supported by the Bulgarian National Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, the event encouraged dialogue and intensified action towards implementing ethical supply chains in Bulgaria.

On 23-24 May, the PCUz convened an expert roundtable on National Referral Mechanisms (NRMs) to protect the rights of trafficked persons. Forty participants representing Central Asian state structures and civil society organizations gathered to share their experiences, promising practices and

On 16-17 May, the second meeting of the Interagency Steering Committee to Counter Cybercrimes (hereinafter, the Steering Committee) took place at the Law Enforcement Academy under the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the city of Kosshy. The initiative is a part of the extrabudgetary project “Supporting the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Development of Effective Policies to Counter Cybercrimes (Phase I)” implemented by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana (hereinafter, the Office), in co-operation with the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and with the support of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Twenty border and customs officers in Uzbekistan sharpened their skills for identifying suspected foreign terrorist fighters and other criminals at border crossings during a national training course organized by the OSCE’s Border and Security Management Unit in close co-operation with the Government of Uzbekistan on 22 to 25 April 2024.

On 15 and 16 April, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro supported participation of Montenegrin delegation in 24th high-level Conference of the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons, attended by more than 800 participants from the OSCE region and beyond in Vienna.

VIENNA, 16 April 2024 – At the 24th Conference of the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons, OSCE leaders and anti-trafficking experts called on the 57 OSCE participating States to move beyond awareness-raising campaigns, underscoring the urgent need to re-evaluate prevention efforts in the face of evolving trafficking tactics.