OSCE Centre supports conference on combating organized crime in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, 25 November, 2009 - An OSCE-supported international conference on co-ordinating the interaction between law-enforcement agencies to combat organized crime started in Bishkek today.

The conference, organized by the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry and supported by the OSCE Police Reform Programme for Kyrgyzstan, gathered more than 55 participants who will share experiences and information, and discuss the matters related to the interaction between law-enforcement bodies and other stakeholders to fight organized crime.

Participants include law-enforcement officers from the Russian Federation, Lithuania and Kazakhstan, as well as representatives of Kyrgyz authorities, including the Interior Ministry, the National Security Committee, the Custom and Border Committees, the Prosecutor's Office, the representatives of the state penitentiary service, other agencies and organizations, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Anti-Terrorist Centre for the CIS countries in the Central Asian region are also taking part in the conference.

"One of the purposes of the conference is to reinvigorate the OSCE-supported pilot project on tackling organized crime, which was launched in Bishkek and Osh in 2006 with technical assistance from Lithuanian experts," Ambassador Andrew Tesoriere, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, said. 

"The OSCE Centre in Bishkek seeks to support Kyrgyzstan's authorities in tackling organized crime through a wide range of programmes: we work closely with the financial intelligence and law-enforcement authorities to thwart illegal financial transactions and terrorist financing; we cooperate with the prison authorities to prevent crime within the prison system; we work with municipal authorities, civil society and youth groups to deter young people from getting caught up in organized crime schemes as couriers and lower-level actors; and we seek to prevent human trafficking and exploitation."

Major-General Sabyrbek Kurmanaliev, the First Deputy Interior Minister, added: "Co-ordination of the interaction between law enforcement agencies of Kyrgyzstan in the fight with organized crime is crucial, and today's conference is very important in this regard."