News and press releases

BELGRADE, 28 November 2024 – The OSCE Mission to Serbia awarded the 2024 Person of the Year award to Ivana Stevanović, Executive Director of the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, Veran Matić, President of Association of Independent Electronic Media and member of the Permanent Working Group for Safety of Journalists, and Nemanja Nenadić, Program Director of Transparency Serbia at a ceremony held in Belgrade today.

On 27 and 28 November 2024, 22 officials from various government institutions in Turkmenistan, including the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Monitoring Agency, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, participated in a specialized workshop on preventing and investigating the criminal use of virtual assets and blockchain-based finance. The event took place in Ashgabat and was organized by the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA).

Croatia’s 2024 early parliamentary elections were competitive, offering voters a broad range of political choices. The legal framework generally provided a sound basis for holding democratic elections, and the election administration enjoyed full confidence in managing all stages of the process. While the media landscape is diverse, concerns remain about the concentration of media ownership and the political affiliation of many media outlets, including the public broadcaster, as well as the high volume of pending litigation against journalists.

On 26 and 27 November, the OSCE trained 14 staff from the Moldovan People’s Advocate Office (Ombuds institution) on the effective handling of human rights cases and inquiries into the security sector during a workshop held in Chisinau. The participants explored good practices in processing complaints related to the security sector, conducting investigations and producing reports.

On 28-29 November 2024, the expert roundtable titled “Gender-Sensitive, Child-Friendly, and Trauma-Informed Justice: Best Practices, Challenges, and Needs” was held in Tashkent. The event was organized jointly by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz), the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor

On 22 November 2024, 25 government officials from Central Asia gathered in Ashgabat for a Regional Conference on “Critical Infrastructure Protection in Central Asia: Strengthening Resilience, Enhancing Security”. The event was organized by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department, the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities and the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, in co-operation with the Government of Turkmenistan.

On 25-26 November, 2024, the OSCE Programme Office in Astana (the Office), in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) and the “Union of Crisis Centers of Kazakhstan” organized a regional conference titled “Domestic Violence Counteraction Systems in Central Asia: Correctional Programs for Aggressors” in Almaty, Kazakhstan.