OSCE organizes online discussion on exploitation of COVID-19 pandemic by organized crime groups

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department (TNTD), the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) and the OSCE Mission to Serbia organized a webinar on the exploitation of the COVID-19 pandemic by organized crime groups on 8 July 2020.

The webinar was attended by members of the Permanent Conference of Organized Crime Prosecutors (PCOCP), which is a network of 13 organized crime prosecution offices from the region and the EU. Representatives of OSCE participating states and partner institutions also participated. 

Chief criminal justice prosecutors from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, North Macedonia and Serbia discussed new criminal trends and corrupt practices generated by the pandemic as well as future developments in the fight against organized and economic crime.

In his opening remarks, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Andrea Orizio, said: "The work conducted by the Network of Prosecutors against Organized Crime is of utmost importance in the region. Their co-ordination, co-operation and exchange of information are invaluable, particularly in light of the new challenges to security and developments that the global health crisis is presenting. The OSCE Mission is honoured to be a reliable partner in these crucial endeavours."

The project managers, Denise Mazzolani, Deputy Head of TNTD’s Strategic Police Matters Unit, and Iris Pilika, the OCEEA’s Economic Co-operation and Governance Programme Officer, stressed that in order to successfully fight organized crime and corruption across the OSCE region and beyond, state institutions, civil society and the private sector need to work together to increase resilience against infiltration from criminal groups.

The event was also an opportunity to further the co-ordination of PCOCP’s work. PCOCP was established with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia in 2016, with the aim of improving regional co-operation and enhancing the effectiveness of organized crime and corruption investigations.

This webinar was organized in the framework of the OSCE extra-budgetary project “Strengthening the fight against transnational crime in South-Eastern Europe through improved regional co-operation in asset seizure, confiscation, management and re-use”. The project is funded by the United States, Germany, and Italy. The cross-dimensional project, in collaboration with the OSCE Mission to Serbia, supports the work of the PCOCP.