News and press releases

Financial gain is the main incentive for most serious and organized crime networks, and stripping them of their proceeds is the most effective way to dismantle them. Yet according to Europol, only 1.2 per cent of illicit proceeds are confiscated in the European Union, leaving 98.8 per cent at the disposal of criminals. Why is only such a small fragment of crime proceeds confiscated? What can be done to strengthen criminal justice measures to recover illegal assets and disrupt criminal groups? These are the key questions addressed by participants in the 2017 OSCE Annual Police Experts Meeting entitled “Crime Should Not Pay” which started today in the Hofburg in Vienna.

The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe organized the first meeting of the sub-working group on mainstreaming gender into police reform under the Ministry of the Interior on 25 September 2017. The meeting took place on the premises of the Interior Ministry and gathered all members of the sub-working group, which includes both civil society organizations from the regions of Tajikistan working on gender issues and representatives from the Interior Ministry and the Committee on Women and Family Affairs.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region between the evenings of 22 and 23 September compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 23 and 24 September the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region compared with the previous 24 hours. In Luhansk region, on 22 September the SMM recorded one ceasefire violation and no other ceasefire violations during the rest of the reporting period. The SMM assessed damage to civilian properties in residential areas in Horlivka and Hranitne, and followed up on an incident at an ammunition depot in Novoianysol. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote, and Petrivske, and recorded ceasefire violations near the Zolote disengagement area. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere. It facilitated the extinguishing of a fire in an area between Katerynivka and Molodizhne. The SMM visited three border areas outside government control.

VIENNA, 25 September 2017 – Young green entrepreneurs making a social impact in the Mediterranean region were officially invited to compete for the new OSCE GEMS Award launched today in Vienna by the Chairperson of the Mediterranean Contact Group, Permanent Representative of Italy to the OSCE Ambassador Alessandro Azzoni...

SARAJEVO, 25 September 2017- A group of 20 law and criminology students from seven universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) completed in Sarajevo today the second annual edition of the OSCE Mission’s Extracurricular Workshop on International Criminal Law and Transitional Justice.

BERLIN, 25 September 2017 – The 24 September parliamentary elections in Germany were a strong demonstration of the country’s commitment to democratic processes and provided an opportunity for voters to freely express their will, concluded international observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly today following their first-ever election observation mission in the country. The efficiency and professionalism of the election administration, as well as a high level of public confidence in the overall integrity of the electoral process, contributed to the conduct of democratic elections.

An OSCE-supported seminar on the protection of freedom of expression and policies to counter hate speech on the internet took place on 25 September 2017 in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.