Meeting on lessons learned in the fight against organized crime

Pursuant to the adoption in Brussels last year of Ministerial Council Decision 5/06 on organized crime , the Secretary-General of the OSCE created a Task Force on organized crime in January 2007. This Task Force will help to ensure that the responsibilities assigned to the OSCE institutions in this Decision are fulfilled according to the timeline indicated.

The goal of the Task Force is to enhance the professional and expert content of OSCE activities in the field of combating organized crime. It should also help to foster broad understanding within the OSCE and with participating States of the Organization's capacity to offer assistance in this field.

The Task Force will help to build up OSCE capacity in the area of organized crime by:

• Taking into account the breadth of existing definitions of organized crime, and the nature of the phenomenon, to then define the framework within which the OSCE addresses the threat to security posed by organized crime;
• Assessing the OSCE acquis with regard to its relevant components on the prevention and/or combating of organized crime, including a focus on the strategic links between elements of criminal justice systems;
• Increasing and improving co-operation between relevant OSCE entities in the field of organized crime;
• Increasing and improving co-operation with other relevant Organizations (UNODC, EUROPOL, INTERPOL, Council of Europe, Stability Pact, ...);
• Programme planning: providing Fund Managers with recommendations to improve the coherence of programmes in the field of organized crime.

The "Lessons-learned exercise on the OSCE and the fight against organized crime" is organized as part of the work of the OSCE Task Force. It will be attended by dedicated specialist staff from the different OSCE structures (OSCE Secretariat, ODIHR and field operations).

The exercise will focus on:

• Emphasizing the cross-dimensional nature of the fight against organized crime and the need for the OSCE to address it as such, in full respect of the OSCE's human rights engagements.
• Identifying tools and methods which have been successfully applied in the assistance provided to participating States in implementing relevant commitments to prevent and combat organized crime, with a particular focus on field activities.
• Identifying further programmatic activities, on the basis of the gathered information and lessons learned, with the potential to contribute to efforts of the participating States' to prevent and combat organized crime effectively and efficiently.