Regional Cooperation Council
last updated July 26, 2013

The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) was created on February 27, 2008, to replace the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe. The main tasks of the RCC are to help facilitate the activities of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), assist with regional cooperation, aid potential candidate and candidate countries with accession to the EU, monitor regional activities, and support the increased involvement of civil society in the region.  The RCC is comprised of 46 countries, organizations, and financial institutions, including the European Union, the participating states of the SEECP (Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Slovenia as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Moldova), and other donor countries.[1]

In February 2013, the RCC was presented with the International Peace Centre Sarajevo’s traditional Sloboda (Freedom) award “for an extraordinary contribution to humanism, fight for human rights and freedom in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Europe and the world.”[2] The award highlighted the RCC’s commitment to cooperation in South East Europe and creating a stable and safe atmosphere for economic and social development in the region.

 

Gender Task Force

The RCC works with two primary task forces—the RCC Task Force Fostering and Building Human Capital and the RCC Gender Task Force (GTF). The GTF advocates for increased political participation by women as a “prerequisite for developing stable, prosperous and democratic societies in South East Europe.”[3] The task force notes the noticeably low political participation of women in transitioning countries. However, after years of work by the GTF in South East Europe, the GTF has contributed to increased political cooperation between women of different party lines, ethnicities, and countries; cooperation among NGO’s, parliaments and governments dedicated to the political empowerment of women; gender-mainstreaming of elections; and grass root and media campaigns.[4]
 
The RCC also monitors and supports efforts against human trafficking through its Justice and Home Affairs division.[5] The Justice and Home Affairs division listed the trafficking of human beings and sexual exploitation of children as the first of many regional priorities aimed at fighting trans-border organized crime.[6]

 

[1] “Structure,” Regional Cooperation Council, accessed June 6, 2013, http://www.rcc.int/pages/7/14/structure.
[2] “Regional Cooperation Council wins award for extraordinary contribution to humanism,” Regional Cooperation Council, 10 Dec. 2012, http://www.rcc.int/press/0/206/regional-cooperation-council-wins-award-for-extraordinary-contribution-to-humanism.
[3] “RCC and Regional Initiatives and Task Forces in South East Europe,
 Regional Cooperation Council, accessed June 6, 2013, http://www.rcc.int/pages/0/36/rcc-and-regional-initiatives-and-task-forces-in-south-east-europe.
[4] Id.
[5] “Justice and Home Affairs,” Regional Cooperation Council, accessed June 6, 2013, http://www.rcc.int/pages/16/7/justice-and-home-affairs.
[6] Southeast European Cooperation Process, Regional Strategic Document on Justice and Home Affairs, 2011-2013, http://www.rcc.int/docs/0/183/regional-strategic-document-on-justice-and-home-affairs-2011-2013-and-the-action-plan-for-its-implementation.