OSCE Mission awards scholarships to Serbian Interior Ministry employees

BELGRADE, 5 June 2007 - The OSCE Mission to Serbia today awarded eight employees of the Serbian Interior Ministry with scholarships for postgraduate studies in global and national security.

The scholarships are a result of an agreement between the Ministry, the Faculty of Political Science of the Belgrade University and the OSCE Mission. The selected Interior Ministry employees will be able to advance their professional education while continuing to work full-time.

"By providing additional educational opportunities to the Defence and Interior Ministries and other security-related institutions the OSCE Mission hopes to strengthen the human capacity of those institutions," said Anthony Pahigian, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission. "The academic advancement of such dedicated security professionals will also help the democratization and reform of the security sector."

The OSCE Mission to Serbia will continue to provide assistance to strengthen the democratic framework for the functioning of the security sector. Improving education in global approaches to security is a key task of the Mission and forms part of the overall reform of the security sector in Serbia.