APPENDIX 2
OSCE MC and PC Decisions and Action Plans
with a Focus on Police-Related Activities
Taskings on police-related issues are contained in OSCE
Summit Decisions as well as in the growing list of Decisions
of the MC and the PC, including a number of OSCE Action
Plans.
The Charter for European Security adopted by the Istanbul
Summit Meeting (1999) represents the platform for the
OSCE involvement in policing. It contains the commitment
of the participating States to enhance the OSCE’s role
in civilian police-related activities as an integral part of
the Organization’s efforts in conflict prevention, crisis
management and post-conflict rehabilitation. Such activities
may comprise the following: (1) police monitoring, including
to prevent police from discriminating due to religious and
ethnic identity; (2) police training, which could, inter alia,
aim to improve the operational and tactical capabilities of
local police services and reform paramilitary forces, provide
new and modern policing skills, such as community policing,
and anti-drug, anti-corruption and anti-terrorist capacities,
create a police service with a multi-ethnic and/or multireligious composition that can enjoy the confidence of the
entire population; and (3) promoting respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms in general.
in conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict
rehabilitation.
In its Decision No. 448 (2001), the PC decided to establish
the seconded post of Senior Police Adviser in the OSCE
Secretariat.
In the Declaration on Trafficking in Human Beings adopted
by the Tenth MC (Porto 2002), its members called on
participating States to enhance international co-operation
in combating criminal acts such as trafficking in drugs and
arms, as well as smuggling of migrants. They emphasized
the need to include in this co-operation international law
enforcement bodies such as Europol and INTERPOL, as well
as the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI), with
a view to investigating and prosecuting those responsible for
trafficking in human beings in accordance with domestic
law and, where applicable, international obligations. In this
regard, they also asked the Senior Police Adviser to devote
increased attention to the fight against trafficking in human
beings.
The Ninth MC in Bucharest (2001) declared the OSCE’s
decision to increase and promote co-operation among
participating States in countering new security challenges,
including by providing advice or arranging for the provision
of expert advice on requirements for effective policing
(needs assessments) and how to meet them, and encouraging
where appropriate the exchange of information among and
between participating States regarding lessons learned and
best policing practices in countering these new security
challenges.
This tasking was further detailed in the OSCE Action Plan to
Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, which requested the
TNTD/SPMU to further promote the concept of community
policing and facilitate the exchange of information between
participating States on best practices to be used by relevant
investigating units to check the possibly criminal and
trafficking-related origin of suspicious assets. The TNTD/
SPMU was also tasked to continue developing training
materials for law enforcement on trafficking and sex crimes
investigation, identify law enforcement trainers to conduct
training, and facilitate the funding of training sessions for law
enforcement authorities in participating States.
The Bucharest Plan of Action for Combating Terrorism
(2001), adopted on the same occasion as the above Decision
on police-related activities, recognized the need to assist
participating States, on their request, through measures to
combat trafficking in human beings, drugs and small arms
and light weapons, in accordance with relevant PCdecisions.
This assistance could also include provision of advice and
assistance on restructuring and/or reconstruction of police
services; monitoring and training of existing police services,
including human rights training; and capacity- building,
including support for integrated or multi-ethnic police
services. To this end, the plan of action acknowledged the
requirement for reinforcing existing police-related activities
One of the aspects of policing of ethnic minorities was
addressed by the OSCE Action Plan on Improving the
Situation of Roma and Sinti within the OSCE Area (2003).
The TNTD/SPMU was tasked to assist participating States in
developing programmes and confidence-building measures,
such as community policing, to improve the relations
between Roma and Sinti people and the police, particularly
at the local level, and to produce a compilation of police best
practices in the OSCE area with respect to policing and Roma
and Sinti communities. Another established task was to assist
the participating States in developing codes of conduct to
prevent racial profiling and improve inter-ethnic relations.
The OSCE Strategy to Address Threats to Security and
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