News and press releases

On 2 November, OSCE concluded the series of national workshops in Montenegro on social re-use of confiscated illicit assets. The event highlighted the key role civil society organizations play in the fight against organized crime and corruption. It also raised the awareness on the possibility to assign assets confiscated from criminal groups to civil society, contributing thus to social, cultural and socio-entrepreneurial activities and reintegrating confiscated illicit assets into communities and the legal economy.

The 2022 Aarhus Centres Annual Meeting was held in Vienna and online on 19 and 20 October 2022. The meeting focused on the role of Aarhus Centres in strengthening peace and security, their new Strategy and Action Plan, and on the contribution of the Centres to sustainable development.

On October 20th 2022, the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA), in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducted a two-day expert roundtable to launch a new extra-budgetary project on fighting money laundering activities carried out via virtual assets and cryptocurrencies. The event is part of the extra-budgetary project on “innovative policy solutions to mitigate money laundering risks of virtual assets” funded by the United States and Germany.

On 27 September, the OSCE held the third workshop on the use and social re-use of confiscated assets in North Macedonia, which gathered government representatives, civil society, and national and international legal experts, to foster public discourse on this highly relevant topic.

On 23 September 2022, the Office of the Co-ordinator of the OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) participated in the Second Tashkent Anti-Corruption Forum, organized by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) of the Republic of Uzbekistan, jointly with international partner organizations. The event gathered more than 100 participants representing national and foreign anti-corruption authorities, civil-society organizations and other stakeholders to discuss transparency and integrity measures in the public sector, assessing anti-corruption risks, as well as anti-corruption education...

On 19 and 20 September, the Balkan Asset Management Interagency Network (BAMIN), supported by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) and the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA), held online training sessions on the management of seized and confiscated vehicles. The training focused on both national and cross-border aspects of managing these vehicles.

PRAGUE, 9 September 2022 – Expanding the use of green technologies, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and energy diversification are vital to security, stability and post Covid-19 sustainable economic recovery across the OSCE region, said participants of the concluding meeting of the 30th Economic and Environmental Forum (EEF) of the OSCE in Prague. The forum focused on promoting security and stability in the OSCE area through sustainable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.