News and press releases

On 11 March 2024, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department co-organized a side event with the OSCE Chairpersonship of Malta on "Empowering Women for Justice: Advancing Gender Equality in Organized Crime Prevention and Exit Strategies," on the margins of the 68th Commission on the Status of Women. The event was hosted by the Permanent Mission of Malta and co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Albania, Canada, Italy, Sweden and the Republic of Tajikistan to the United Nations. 

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department and the OSCE Presence in Albania provided the Albanian State Police with additional crime analysis software licences and conducted an advanced training programme in Tirana, Albania, from 26 February to 8 March 2024. Building on the previous introductory training programme held in December 2023, this initiative was tailored for 40 junior analysts from the Intelligence and Criminal Archives Directorate of the Albanian State Police.

Enhancing airport security through behaviour detection was the focus of a training session held from 27 to 29 February in Chisinau by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department and the Airport Police Network (AIRPOL). Bringing together 15 officers from the Moldovan Border Police, Customs Service, and Airport Administration, the interactive session equipped Moldovan border and law enforcement officers with advanced techniques and methods of effective behaviour detection at airports.

Between December 2023 and February 2024, the OSCE organized five national round tables in South-Eastern Europe bringing together media, law enforcement government and civil society representatives to discuss how to foster gender-sensitive and victim-centred approaches to media reporting on gender-based violence (GBV).

Obstructing terrorists’ access to financing channels, funds and property is key to diminish their activities. To help foster effective strategies for this goal, a training-of-trainers course to improve experts’ skills in disrupting terrorist groups through financial tools concluded on 22 February in Vienna. The course was organized by the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department (TNTD), in co-operation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and with the support of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo.

On 20 February, the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department presented the concept of the reformed community policing and the results of the Public Survey on Perceptions of the Police and Police Reforms in Yerevan, Armenia. The high-level meeting was attended by the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, and the Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Defense and Security.

From 29 to 31 January 2024, 25 graduate students from Central Asia, Afghanistan and Mongolia participated in a training programme dedicated to organized crime and the often-overlooked role of women in criminal networks. This event was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan by the OSCE Academy in Bishkek and OSCE Transnational Threats Department.