4.2 Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina On 27 March, the Mission hosted the inaugural meeting of the Monitoring Body, participated in by representatives from all relevant domestic law enforcement agencies. A variety of representatives from the Mission presented programmatic activities not only related to counterterrorism and P/C VERLT, but also to the fields of rule of law, hate crimes, democratic governance, human rights and gender. In addition, other international and domestic organizations, including representatives of civil society, were given the opportunity to present their counterterrorism and P/C VERLT-related activities. On 12 and 13 June, the Mission’s Security Co-operation Unit (SCU) members participated in a conference titled “Risk Indicators Related to Financing Terrorism”, co-organized by the Ministry of Security of BiH and the British Embassy to BiH, in Sarajevo. The aim of the conference was to present relevant UK expertise and international standards as well as national institutional and legislative frameworks for detecting and preventing activities which finance terrorism. It addressed the financial aspects of BiH citizens leaving to foreign conflict areas. On 4 July, the Mission organized an expert meeting on “Addressing Online Content that Incites Violence and Terrorism”, aiming to improve dialogue on how to address online content that incites violence, while respecting democratic principles and fundamental freedoms. Relevant stakeholders and experts from the Ministry of Security, the Communications Regulatory Agency of (CRA) BiH, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, the Court of BiH and relevant law enforcement bodies in BiH discussed various procedures, roles and responsibilities related to the blocking, filtering and taking-down of online content that incites violence. The meeting ended with a number of recommendations that will be considered by relevant institutions. It is noteworthy that the CRA attended the meeting and stated its full support for this process, noting that it will potentially include additional responsibilities for the CRA and Internet Service Providers. Prior to the meeting, the SCU and the Human Dimension Department prepared a background paper on the blocking, filtering and taking-down of online content that promotes violence, which includes segments on international standards, national legislation and relevant international practices. On 5 October, the Mission and its SCU co-organized training with the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centres of the FBiH and RS on processing terrorism-related cases, including cyber terrorism. Presenters included prominent academics and prosecutors with extensive experience in the field. Discussions were held from various angles on 50 this issue, including current trends and challenges, interinstitutional co-operation and gender aspects. From 30 October to 8 December, the Mission organized a series of five two-day multi-stakeholder workshops regarding local level responses in prevention and countering violent extremism in Buzim, Bihać, Brčko, Tuzla, and Zenica. The target audience was representatives of local educational institutions, police administrations, religious communities, social services, civil society organizations, municipality administrations and prison staff. All events represented a combination of presentations to discuss practical steps for the locations in question in terms of preventative activities and co-ordination models between institutions, resulting in sets of conclusions which were shared with relevant authorities, and consequent follow-up steps were designed and agreed within the Mission. On 27 and 28 November, following on from conclusions drawn at similar events in 2015 and 2016, the Mission coorganized with the Regional Arms Control Verification and Implementation Assistance (RACVIAC) Centre for Security Co-operation in SEE and the Regional Co-operation Council (RCC), a regional conference titled “Prosecution, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration of Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters”, focusing on identification of the challenges, priorities, best practices and engagement of civil society organizations in this process. The conference was organized in the RACVIAC Centre in Rakitje near Zagreb, taking into consideration the recommendations of the OSCE-wide Counter-Terrorism Conference held in Vienna in May 2017, which focused specifically on the subject of rehabilitation and reintegration of returning FTFs and members of their families (especially children) who followed them to/from war zones. Conference participants also deliberated on the “EU Western Balkan CounterTerrorism Initiative: Integrative Plan of Action Objective 7: To Raise Awareness and Best Practice Exchange on Reintegration and Rehabilitation”, an initiative in which the three co-organizers take part alongside the countries of the Western Balkans. The Mission provided an adequate representation of relevant BiH institutions and also selected and arranged the participation of suitable lecturers from BiH and the Mission. The event fulfilled its main objectives to evaluate existing policies, programs, and actors, as well as the challenges in relation to the role of civil society organizations in the rehabilitation and reintegration of returning FTFs and their families. The event also analysed the specific needs of participating countries in order to develop a national program for the engagement with the civil society in the process of rehabilitation and reintegration of FTFs and their families.