Combating corruption and organised crime in the Western Balkans through strengthening regional cooperation in asset recovery
Since 2018, the AIRE Centre has worked in cooperation with the RAI Secretariat to strengthen anti-corruption practices in South-East Europe. The project is currently in its second phase.
During the first phase of this project, we engaged with key institutions across ten countries to build regional capacity to implement and monitor effective asset recovery, facilitate regional and international cooperation in this context, and promote success stories and positive practice throughout the region. We published four practical handbooks, organised a series of targeted training sessions, facilitated peer-to-peer visits and bilateral negotiations, and developed a shared regional statistical model. Key institutions were judged to have made real progress and all participants endorsed a continuation of the project for three further years.
Now, in the second phase of the project, we continue to establish the Regional Asset Recovery Platform, an online database that will provide access to relevant educational materials and publications, news and latest developments relevant to the region, case studies and examples of good practice. We also convene conferences, trainings and bilateral meetings to provide legal training and to strengthen the regional network of asset recovery professionals.
The goals of the project include:
- Strengthen the capacity of courts and prosecutors to combat corruption and organised crime in the Western Balkans and to effectively implement asset recovery measures.
- Continuously develop capacity building programmes for key institutions, especially through identifying and sharing best practice and lessons learned.
- Facilitate the collection, analysis and distribution of statistics to enable the effective assessment of asset recovery processes with national, regional and international peers.
- Foster regional and international cooperation in the asset-recovery process.
- Monitor effective implementation of asset recovery measures in the region.
- Promote success stories and positive practice throughout the region.
