POLICE-RELATED ACTIVITIES OF FIELD OPERATIONS SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE provided with specialized knowledge on the use of Internet by traffickers to sexually exploit children, victim identification, interview skills, and production of and trade in child sexual abuse material. They were also introduced to provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, and Directives of the European Parliament on combating sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children. From 5 to 7 September, in its efforts to support the implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan against THB, the Mission supported the MoIA and the KP in delivering three inter-institutional workshops on THB.17 The workshops gathered a total of 70 representatives from the MoIA Secretariat for monitoring strategies, KP Directorate for Investigation of THB, the Prosecutor’s Office, Basic Court, Victims’ Advocacy and Assistance Office, Centre for Social Welfare, Labour Inspectorate and Centre for Protection of Victims of Trafficking. The aim of this workshop was to evaluate institutional capacities and identify potential weaknesses in prevention, protection and reintegration of THB victims, in order to identify ways for improving and strengthening the inter-institutional co-operation. Participants recognized several challenges related to identification of victims of forced begging, reintegration process for victims of trafficking, lack of specialized prosecutors for THB cases, and risk of influencing victims during court procedures. From 18 to 22 September, the Mission delivered an advanced training course on early indicators of THB to 20 specialized police officers of the KP Directorate for Investigation of THB. The training was primarily focused on fundamental rights and relevant legislation, covering indicators of victims of trafficking common to all forms of exploitation. Participants were familiarized with best investigation practices on labour exploitation, domestic slavery and method of abuse to produce physical or psychological disability and isolate victims. Discussion also centred on identifying solutions to address begging as a type of exploitation. At the request of the AWKP, the Mission delivered a threemodule advanced training course on 19 and 20 September, 3 and 4 October and 7 and 8 November, for women police officers on practices used to identify potential and presumed victims of THB based on early indicators. The first two training modules targeted 50 women officers from different ethnic backgrounds who had previously attended basic THB training delivered by the Mission in 2016. The training modules focused on enhancing the knowledge and practical skills of women police officers in combating THB through the victim-oriented approach. They were familiarized with best 17 The workshops were held in Pejë/Peč, Mitrovicë/Mitrovica and Prishtinë/Priština. investigation practices in real-case scenarios that revealed the nature and phases of THB, as well as with elements that make the THB a criminal act. The third training module accommodated 24 most successful policewomen of the preceding two modules and focused on further enhancing their knowledge and practical skills with techniques for interviewing victims of THB. The participants were trained to deal with sensitive cases and victims of different ages, ethnicities and languages, as well as techniques in planning, preparing and conducting interviews of adult and child victims of trafficking. Group work, case-based scenarios and role plays were utilised to maximise the impact of training. From 9 to 11 October, the Mission facilitated field training in the Netherlands on THB for the Director of the Secretariat for Strategies in the MoIA and the KP Director of the Directorate for Investigation of THB, in the Netherlands. Respective managers learned about new practices in preventing and combating human trafficking and sexual violence against children. Training was conducted by the Office of the National THB Rapporteur and the State THB Task Force in The Hague, as well as the Investigation Unit for Combating THB and a local police station in the red light district in Amsterdam. On 13 December, the Mission conducted a debriefing meeting on good practices acquired during this field training, gathering representatives of all relevant local institutions and international organizations involved in countering THB. Following presentations of the KP and MoIA members, participants had an opportunity to discuss various THB practices in the Netherlands, both at strategic and investigation level, and elaborate on the applicability of those practices domestically. From 16 to 20 October, the Mission conducted advanced training on methods used by criminals to traffic human beings through Internet, particularly in sexually exploiting trafficked children. The objective of this training was to further build the skills of the same KP investigators from the Directorate for Investigation of THB on common Internet practices, tactics and methods used by organized criminal gangs to traffic people. The course covered the practical use of technologized means, such as software for computerized overt and covert operations targeting human being traffickers and sexual abusers of children On 20 December, the Mission, in co-operation with the KP Training Division and the Directorate for Investigation of THB, facilitated a one-day table-top exercise on THB for 15 KP investigators. Assisted by Mission in-house experts, participants were introduced to the Strategy and Action Plan against THB and provided with information related to their cooperation with international law enforcement agencies when 69