News and press releases

GENEVA, 26 June 2024 – The 61st round of the Geneva International Discussions (GID) took place on 25-26 June 2024 in accordance with the six-point agreement of 12 August 2008 and implementing measures of 8 September 2008.

Ambassador Brian Aggeler, Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mission), and Duška Jurišić, Deputy Minister of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, accompanied by representatives of the international community, visited Banja Luka, Prijedor and Kozarac today to learn about challenges facing minorities living in these communities.

VIENNA, 26 June 2024 – The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will hold a two-day Annual Security Review Conference (ASRC) in Vienna on 26 and 27 June 2024.

The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe (POiD) has successfully completed the "Youth Against Drugs" antidrug awareness campaign in Tajikistan in collaboration with the Drug Control Agency (DCA) under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan. The campaign included sports competitions and award ceremonies held across various regions of Tajikistan from 5 to 26 June 2024.

On 25 June, the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department and the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities held a workshop for state authorities on strengthening multi-stakeholder engagement to effectively prevent youth involvement in criminal and corrupt activities. The workshop in Chisinau was organized in co-operation with Foundation Terre des hommes Moldova.

ASTANA, 25 June 2024 — Today, OSCE Chair-in-Office, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of Malta Ian Borg, concluded his visit to Kazakhstan. The visit focused on strengthening regional co-operation and the OSCE’s engagement in addressing the broad range of security challenges the region is facing.

A strict interpretation of the new regulatory framework suggests that information regarding adjudicated facts and individual criminal responsibility will be substantially limited, with full anonymization of details about defendants and the context of the crime.

An OSCE-organized Medical Training-of-Trainers Course started on 24 June 2024. The course brought together twenty-four border guards who work in remote areas and act as first responders to emergencies and incidents, specializing in rescue operations. The course aims to enhance trainees’ practical

From 17 to 21 June, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, in co-operation with the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek, the OSCE Programme Office in Astana, the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat and the OSCE Secretariat, conducted the Central Asian Summer Media School in Kosh-Kol village, Issyk-Kul province, Kyrgyzstan.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), based on the monitoring of 55 organized crime and corruption cases involving over 900 hearings monitored between July 2021 and March 2024, the Report provides evidence-based recommendations developed to improve transparency, efficiency and the utilization of asset confiscation mechanisms.

VIENNA, 24 June 2024 – Despite progress made in some areas, levels of intolerance and discrimination remain high and pervasive in many parts of the OSCE region with a particularly negative impact on women and girls, corroding democracy and jeopardising our common security, and undermining gender equality, OSCE leaders said as a two-day meetingon tolerance and non-discrimination and gender equality started today.

Just like their human counterparts, duty dogs risk their lives in police operations and require immediate first aid when injured. Swift responses from their handlers can mean the difference between life and death for these well-trained and loyal animals. The first Regional Training Programme for

The 21st International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) brought together leading activists, community actors, private sector, government practitioners and international organizations from across the globe to Vilnius, Lithuania, to discuss common challenges and opportunities in the fight against corruption, from 18 to 21 June.

A final three-day regional training course organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe for 20 (18 men and two women) canine handlers and officers of the Search and Rescue Department of Tajikistan’s Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence (CoESCD) and the K-9 Centre of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) concluded in Khorog on 22 June 2024.

A comprehensive two-week Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Level 1-2 training course, organized for 20 participants (all men) from Tajikistan’s Ministry of Defense and Border Troops, concluded successfully on 22 June 2024 in Khujand.

From June 17 to 20 June 2024, two prominent members of the Alliance of Women Parliamentarians focusing on youth issues and three members of the OSCE Network of Youth for Gender Equality visited Tbilisi, Georgia.

North Macedonia, as Chair of the Asian partners for Co-operation Group, in collaboration with Thailand organized the third OSCE Asian Partners for Co-operation Group meeting on 21 June 2024. This meeting focused on "Enhancing Human Security: Protecting Youth and Children from Online Exploitation and Trafficking." The meeting gathered key representatives and experts to address the escalating risks and propose co-ordinated responses to the online exploitation and trafficking of youth and children.

On 20 June at the Vienna Hofburg, the OSCE Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and the Transnational Threats Department co-organized a side event centered on understanding women’s agency and consent in cases of trafficking in human beings (THB).

On 20 June 2024, the OSCE’s Conflict Prevention Centre (CPC) organized a side-event to present the OSCE’s model for small arms and light weapons (SALW) and stockpiles of conventional ammunition (SCA) assistance. The event was co-organized by the German Federal Foreign Office and held in the United Nations Headquarters on the margins of a conference on the topic held in New York.

VALLETTA, 21 June 2024 – The OSCE Chairpersonship will host the High-Level Conference on Climate Change in Malta today. The conference, which aims to examine the security implications of the climate crisis for the OSCE area, will underscore the urgent need for collaborative efforts to address this pressing global challenge.

The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe recently held a two-week training course for Heads of Border Outposts stationed along the Tajik-Afghan border. The training took place from 10 to 21 June 2024 at the "Poytakht" training center in the Rudaki district and was conducted by both international and local experts.

Amid the unprecedented number of Ukrainians who fled the war and emerging cases of human trafficking and exploitation involving refugees, a strong criminal justice response in the host countries has become more crucial than ever. To foster prompt detection and effective investigation and prosecution of these cases, a high-level conference organized by the OSCE and INTERPOL this week in Vienna gathered over 100 criminal justice stakeholders from 33 countries across the OSCE region that host large numbers of refugees from Ukraine.

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Kairat Abdrakhmanov visited Belgrade from 17 to 19 June 2024 to continue his longstanding engagement with the authorities of Serbia on issues related to national minorities. Nearing the completion of his mandate, the High Commissioner thanked his

From June 18 to 20, the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities organized a workshop titled "Navigating the Virtual Asset Landscape" in Warsaw, Poland. The workshop, which was hosted by the Ministry of Finance of Poland, targeted Ukrainian supervisory

WARSAW, 20 June 2024 – As the number of forcibly displaced people in the OSCE area reaches a record high, the proliferation of new border technologies is likely to have a profound impact on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of refugees across the region, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said on the occasion of World Refugee Day.

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mission) welcomes the adoption of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Strategy for the Fight against Corruption 2024-2028 and the accompanying Action Plan for Implementation by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On 18 June, the OSCE Secretariat hosted a group of international students in Vienna, Austria, for a summer school visit on organized crime. The visit provided participants with hands-on experience of the Organization's programmatic activities, offering them a unique opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the OSCE's comprehensive whole-of-society approach to the prevention of organized crime.

From 17 to 18 June 2024, a delegation, headed by the Director of the Anti-Corruption Agency of Uzbekistan, carried out a study visit to Georgia to learn from its experience in accession to and membership in the Open Government Partnership (OGP).

BÜRGENSTOCK, 16 June 2024 — “Since the beginning of the war, the OSCE has remained focused on addressing the situation in Ukraine," said OSCE Chair-in-Office, Foreign Minister of Malta Ian Borg at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine. 

On 13 June, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department organized a regional co-ordination meeting for 20 senior representatives of law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities and educational institutions from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in Vienna, Austria.

VIENNA, 13 June 2024 – “The failure to guarantee media freedom and healthy information spaces is increasingly disillusioning and disenfranchising people throughout the OSCE region,” stated OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM) Teresa Ribeiro in her address to OSCE participating States. Presenting her seventh and final bi-annual report to the Permanent Council, she highlighted escalating repression against the media and its detrimental impact on democratic principles and security across the OSCE region and urged States to bolster efforts to safeguard media freedom for the benefit of peace and security.

Members of the Balkan Asset Management Interagency Network (BAMIN) and the French Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Asset met in Paris on 10 and 11 June 2024 to exchange experiences and good practices.

The OSCE Mission to BiH (the Mission) congratulates the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) on its adoption of the Strategy for Prevention and Fight against the Domestic Violence 2024-2027.

On 11 June, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department organized the concluding conference for the first phase of its flagship regional capacity-building initiative on combating cybercrime in Central Asia at the Hofburg in Vienna. The conference took stock of the project’s achievements over the last three years, and highlighted the main outcomes and lessons learned from its implementation.

Cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets can present a wide range of risks, including but not limited to money laundering, terrorist financing, and fraud. To strengthen Armenia’s crypto-related crime investigation capacities, the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA), in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), gathered 23 representatives from the public sector in Yerevan from 12 to 14 June for a targeted training session to foster their expertise in this area.

On 10 and 12 June, the OSCE Transitional Threats Department gathered 86 policy and technical cybersecurity points of contact from 51 participating States. This is the fourth annual meeting of national representatives who are part of the OSCE’s Point of Contact network established in line with the confidence-building measure number 8, one of the 16 cyber/ICT security confidence-building measures agreed upon by all OSCE participating States.

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz) has organized a study trip on 10-12 June 2024 by the Constitutional Court of Uzbekistan to constitutional courts and law institutions in Germany.

On 4 and 5 June 2024, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz) hosted two expert roundtables, in Tashkent and Samarkand cities, respectively, on the “Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in Social and Economic Life”. (Socio-Economic Recommendations). The events were organized in co-operation with the National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) of Uzbekistan.

The Faculty of Law of the University of Tirana, in co-operation with OSCE Presence in Albania and Università di Pavia organized an international scientific conference on “Crime, society, criminal law and justice reform”, in Tirana, on 10 June 2024. About sixty participants discussed in depth

BRUSSELS, 10 June 2024 – The European parliamentary elections were competitive and offered voters a wide choice of genuine political alternatives, but differing practices for voter and candidate registration created unequal conditions and there were concerns about growing political polarization and disinformation, international observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said in a statement today.

For the first time in Albania, the OSCE Presence, in close co-operation with Ministry of Interior and Albanian State Police, organized a regional exhibition of police service dogs’ capabilities in detection of narcotics and firearms. The event took place in the central “Rinia” park in Tirana, on 7

On 28 and 29 May, the Heads of Asset Management Agencies from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, North Macedonia and Ukraine gathered in Skopje, North Macedonia for a meeting of the Steering Group of the Balkan Asset Management Interagency Network (BAMIN).

The OSCE has taken a proactive position in addressing human rights abuses within supply chains, particularly focusing on preventing and combating human trafficking and labour exploitation in the tourism sector.

On 27- 30 May 2024, the final simulation-based exercise on combating human trafficking took place in the Lviv region, concluding the comprehensive 2-year training initiative by the OSCE Support Programme for Ukraine and IOM Representation in Ukraine.

From 3 to 7 June 2024, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) in close co-operation with the OSCE Presence in Albania, organized a training of trainers course on identifying forged documents and impostors at border crossing points in Tirana, Albania. The course brought together five officers, two women and three men, from the Albanian State Police and the Albanian Border Police.

Moldovan border and law enforcement officers visited the International Airport Henri Coanda in Otopeni and the International Airport Avram Iancu in Cluj-Napoca during a study visit that took place from 3 to 7 June. Organized by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department with the support of the Permanent Mission of Romania to the OSCE, the visit helped participants improve their expertise and skills related to airport security.

In view of the 2025 parliamentary elections in Albania, the OSCE Presence and the Central Election Commission (CEC) organized a technical workshop on enhancing the role of law enforcement bodies in addressing vote-buying and other electoral violations, on 6 June 2024. The workshop served as a

On 4-6 June 2024, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department, jointly with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), organized a training course in Budva, Montenegro, aimed at equipping national officials with critical skills to counter the financing of terrorism.

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.

On 5 June 2024, the city of Osh hosted a festival Create4 Caravan Osh, bringing together creators and innovators to exchange ideas, and build network. The event was divided into two parts: day and evening sessions. During the day, 80 selected entrepreneurs from the creative industry developed roadmaps in a foresight session. The evening session was open to all city residents and included panel discussions, a buffet, live music, and a thematic film screening for over 150 participants.