OSCE regional workshop on sex crimes investigations held in Kazakhstan

ALMATY, 8 November 2005 - Representatives of police forces from Central Asian countries are taking part in the first OSCE regional workshop on the investigation of sex crimes, which begins today in Almaty.

The three-day training involves over 50 police officers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation. Experts from the Europol, the United Kingdom, Russia and Kazakhstan will share their experiences on the latest techniques used to investigate sex-related crimes.

"A danger is that the police are crime-orientated, to the detriment of victims. We therefore have to persuade agencies, especially law enforcement, to try more actively to prevent sex crimes and abuse," said Richard Monk, Senior Police Adviser of the OSCE Secretariat's Strategic Police Matters Unit.

Central Asian police forces will present their respective case studies related to sex crimes investigation and exchange experiences, good practices and lessons learned with police from neighbouring countries.

The regional training is an outcome of a successful sex crimes investigation workshop held in Vienna in July 2004, sponsored by the OSCE Strategic Police Matters Unit. Central Asian participants had there emphasized the need for improved capacity to investigate sex crimes and enhanced co-operation at the regional level.

The training was conducted in co-operation with the Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, with financial support of the OSCE Strategic Police Matters Unit and the OSCE Centre in Almaty.