News and press releases

From 19 to 21 November 2024, the OSCE Presence in Albania, in co-operation with the General Directorate of Prisons, organized a training-of-trainers seminar for 35 senior prison staff. The focus was on the Nelson Mandela Rules, the revised UN standards for the treatment of prisoners, which aim to protect the rights of people in detention, including protection from torture and ill-treatment.

From 12 to 15 November, the second module of the OSCE training course on “Combatting Illicit Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), Ammunition and Explosives for Border and Customs Services” took place at the Advanced Training Faculty under the Customs Committee of Uzbekistan in Tashkent.

On 4 October 2024, in a significant step toward reforming the judicial system, the OSCE Programme Office in Astana (Office) and the Court Administration of Kazakhstan convened a roundtable discussion on the draft Strategy for the development of court administration for 2025-2029. This landmark event, following the 9th Congress of Judges, marked the culmination of months of progressively collaborative work aimed at enhancing efficiency, accessibility, and public trust in Kazakhstan’s judicial system, in line with host country reform priorities.

From 12 to 14 November 2024, prosecutors and investigators of the Asset Recovery Committee of Kazakhstan (ARC) participated in an event on open-source intelligence (OSINT) techniques and tools to counter illicit financial activity associated to corruption and organized crime. Participants learned, among others, how publicly available data can be leveraged to trace the ownership and location of assets and how this evidence can be used in subsequent criminal proceedings. 

From 18 to 20 November 2024, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department (TNTD), in collaboration with the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, delivered a three-day national table-top exercise in Sarajevo, which focused on preventing and countering the use of the internet for terrorist purposes.

Border officers from Albania State Police participated in a study visit to Milan, Italy from 13 to 15 November 2024. The study visit was organized by the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department, in close co-operation with the Permanent Mission of Italy to the OSCE and Polizia di Frontiera – Aeroporto Malpensa, for three officers, including one woman and two men. The visit focused on document checks and border control operations at airports, including how first and second-line document officers can effectively cooperate to stop criminals attempting to travel on forged documents.

VIENNA, 19 November 2024 — Today, the OSCE Troika- Malta, North Macedonia and Finland- made the following statement: