Security issues

Facts and figures

Head of Centre

The Head of the Centre is Ambassador Natalia Zarudna.

The Head of Centre is assisted by a team of three officers covering the following areas: political affairs, human dimension, economic and environmental dimension.

OSCE officials and their Kazakhstani colleagues inspect ammunition stockpiles during an assessment visit on small arms and light weapons, Arys, Kazakhstan, June 2005.

Much of the Centre in Astana's efforts are focused on the security field, which includes issues such as international terrorism, border security, control of small arms and light weapons, and police activities. To increase effectiveness at the regional level, the Centre increasingly works with other Central Asian OSCE Centres on such matters. Joint activities comprise events such as meetings on the fight against terrorism and the respect for human rights, as well as the exchange of experiences between law enforcement officials of the Central Asian States. Such activities are often organized with support from the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and the OSCE Secretariat's Action against Terrorism Unit.

At the request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan, the Centre - together with the Secretariat's Strategic Police Matters Unit - has designed a Police Development Co-operation Activities Programme and provided international expertise in support of law enforcement reforms.

Together with the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation, the Centre works in securing and destroying surplus small arms and light weapons, and conventional ammunition, as well as on disposal of the toxic and highly volatile rocket fuel component known as mélange, stored in ageing containers in many former Soviet republics. There is a broad consensus in the OSCE area that elimination of hazards and dangers related to the storage of these types of military hardware and stocks is crucial to preventing them from falling into the hands of extremists or harming the population and the environment.

The Centre closely follows all developments in regional security, including issues of border demarcation and regional co-operation, and actively promotes the discussion of such issues on the national and regional level.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-02