Response to the Report of the Head of OSCE Presence in Albania, Ambassador Vincenzo Del Monaco
As delivered by Deputy Chief of Mission Courtney Austrian
to the Permanent Council, Vienna
July 7, 2022
Ambassador Del Monaco – dear Vincenzo – welcome back to the Permanent Council and thank you for delivering this report on the OSCE’s efforts in Albania. We are encouraged by your office’s work to support the Albanian host government across all three dimensions of security.
In light of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, efforts to promote OSCE commitments and enhance security across the OSCE region are all the more important. We greatly value your office’s work to foster good governance, strengthen rule of law and the justice system, promote respect for human rights, combat corruption, and enhance security in Albania.
The United States remains a strong supporter of efforts to combat human trafficking across the OSCE region. We commend your support to the host government’s revision of the Anti-Trafficking National Referral Mechanism Framework. The United States is also pleased to provide $200,000 to support the office’s efforts to build law enforcement’s ability to better combat human trafficking in Albania.
Furthermore, the United States applauds your work to uphold the rule of law and promote respect for human rights in Albania. Ambassador Del Monaco, thank you for supporting the Albanian justice sector and specifically the Constitutional Court. The United States is pleased to contribute to your program to strengthen the court’s capacity and we look forward to marking with you and with Albania the successes of the project.
We commend your work to promote media freedom and freedom of expression in Albania. We are grateful for the office’s efforts at the 8th Southeast Europe Conference, co-organized by your office and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, to discuss the importance of editorial independence and the integrity of journalists. We continue to urge Albania to protect the safety of journalists and further support media freedom.
As a Co-Chair of OSCE’s Group of Friends of Youth and Security, we welcome the office’s consistent efforts to empower youth in Albania. We commend your work co-organizing a “Youth Talk” event, which encouraged youth participation in electoral processes.
Ambassador Del Monaco, thank you and your team for your consistent work to support the government of Albania in implementing its OSCE commitments and all of our very best wishes for the future.
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