Publications

This report provides a comprehensive overview of all police-related projects, activities and events, which draw on the combined strength of the OSCE’s Institutions and its network of field operations, often cutting across the OSCE’s three security dimensions.

This factsheet summarises the second edition of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Handbook “National Referral Mechanisms- Joining Efforts to Protect the Rights of Trafficked Persons”. The publication offers a practical guide for all professionals who are working in relation to National Referral Mechanisms (NRMs).

The Annual Progress Report on the Implementation of the 2004 OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality highlights the main achievements of the Organization regarding gender parity, capacity of staff, organizational culture and overall gender mainstreaming improvements within the organization. The report includes information about the support the OSCE executive structures provide to participating States in promoting gender equality.

Preventing and countering violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism (VERLT) is an area of increasing focus at the international, regional and national levels. This also applies to the prison context, due to fears that prisons may represent breeding grounds for VERLT. Such concerns are heightened after terrorist attacks perpetrated by individuals who appear to have radicalized towards violence while imprisoned.

This paper explores the intersections between human trafficking and terrorism by analysing activities of terrorist groups through the lens of trafficking in human beings. Through a critical analysis of legal and policy regimes, the paper provides a comparative study of two crimes – human trafficking and terrorism – based on a series of illustrative examples collected from throughout the OSCE region. The outcome is a set of targeted recommendations to challenge the trafficking practices of terrorist groups by leveraging existing preventative and protective mechanisms in the anti-trafficking field. The intent of these recommendations is to support participating States in preventing the crime of trafficking by terrorist groups, hold the perpetrators fully accountable and protect victims.

Deployed in response to an evolving crisis, the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) faced numerous challenges in its first five years of operation. The OSCE was able to identify a wealth of valuable lessons from the SMM’s rapid deployment and expansion in the wake of the Minsk agreements as well as its use of sophisticated technological monitoring tools, among others. This study examines how the SMM was able to implement its mandate in an increasingly complex security environment, drawing lessons to inform future peace operations, for both the OSCE and the international community at large.

Hate crimes pose a threat to the security of individuals, and, if unaddressed, can give rise to wider scale conflict and violence.

This Occasional Paper highlights the importance of addressing the demand that fosters trafficking for sexual exploitation, in particular the exploitation of the prostitution of others. In doing so, it puts a spotlight on the role of demand in encouraging exploitation and causing harm to victims; outlines the scope of the international obligations and commitments of States to discourage demand; analyses the ways in which States have responded to these obligations and commitments in their criminal justice and prevention practices; and offers recommendations on how to better incorporate demand into national efforts. The primary aim of the paper is to support and enhance the implementation of State-led responses to demand.