Activities of the Transnational Threats Department From 5 to 9 June, TNTD/SPMU participated in the second exercise of the simulation-based training “Combating Human Trafficking along Migration Routes”, conducted at the Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units (CoESPU) in Vicenza, Italy. TNTD/SPMU’s two main tasks were to follow the actions of participants and report to the co-ordination centre, and to monitor and evaluate the actions and behaviours of trainees. The trainees faced two THB scenarios of sexual exploitation and forced labour. Some 70 civilian experts from the participating States participated in this second simulation exercise. TNTD/SPMU, together with criminal justice experts from organizing parties and consultants, took part in co-ordination meetings in preparation for the exercise. On 19 and 20 September, in co-operation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNODC, and in coordination with the OSR/CTHB and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, TNTD/SPMU organized a regional seminar on “Moving Forward in Addressing Migrationrelated Crimes in South-Eastern Europe”, in Sarajevo. The seminar was organized as an activity within the 2014 Joint Commitment between the OSCE, IOM and UNODC. The objective of this seminar was to identify gaps, challenges and good practices, as well as to strengthen information sharing networks between countries of origin, transit and destination using a multi-disciplinary approach, while paying attention to vulnerability of migrants. Senior experts within criminal justice and migration authorities, law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, officials from relevant ministries, IOs, NGOs and representatives of the private sector shared their views, knowledge, trends, and recurring challenges. Over 100 participants representing 19 participating States participated, as well as the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM). Key Findings and Outcomes were distributed under SEC.GAL/154/17. On 6 and 7 December, TNTD/SPMU attended the “5th INTERPOL Global Conference on Trafficking in Human Beings and Smuggling of Migrants”, in Doha, Qatar. This meeting brought together representatives of law enforcement agencies, IOs, NGOs and the private sector to enhance international co-operation, exchange information and experiences, and consolidate strong networks to combat organized criminal groups behind the trafficking in human beings and smuggling of migrants. TNTD/SPMU gave a presentation on the key findings and outcomes of the Regional OSCE-IOM-UNODC seminar “Moving Forward in Addressing Migration-related Crimes in South-Eastern Europe”, held in Sarajevo on 19 and 20 September. On 13 and 14 December, TNTD/SPMU participated in the ODIHR Advisory Group Meeting in Warsaw for updating the National Referral Mechanisms (NRM) handbook “Joining Efforts to protect the Rights of Trafficked Persons”. Together with 35 representatives of courts, prosecution and law enforcement, TNTD/SPMU contributed to the update of the NRMs handbook by providing inputs related to the law enforcement aspect on definitions of basic terms in the document. Cybercrime On 1 February in Vienna, TNTD/SPMU briefed the OSCE Delegations from SEE on the planned project “Capacity Building for Criminal Justice Practitioners Combating Cybercrime and Cyber-enabled Crime in SEE”. The main objective of this two-year regional ExB project is to build up and enhance capacities of criminal justice institutions in investigating and prosecuting cybercrime and cyber-enabled crime, allowing practitioners to detect, identify and gather intelligence and digital evidence necessary to prosecute all types of cyber-enabled crimes. In addition, the project aims to build up the training capacities of the respective beneficiaries to ensure sustainability and continuity of the achieved results and established processes, by employing a ToT component as its core element. Delegations appreciated the pro-active information initiative by TNTD/SPMU and pledged support to the project. The development, drafting and the delivery preparation of this project took place during the first half of 2017. On 19 and 20 June, TNTD/SPMU met with representatives of six OSCE field operations in SEE in Podgorica, Montenegro, to discuss the implementation modalities of the aforementioned project. On 6 July, TNTD/SPMU met with OSCE Delegations from SEE in Vienna to brief them on the status of the project, the funding situation, the selection of implementing partners, as well as the composition of a Coordination Board to monitor and co-ordinate delivery and follow-up of all planned activities. The inaugural meeting of the project’s Co-ordination Board took place on 14 and 15 September in Podgorica. By the end of October, each beneficiary state nominated two national trainers to be trained in the first phase of the project and later to lead national implementation of training activities in the second and third phases. Development of the first ToT course entitled “First responders dealing with digital evidence” was finalized by the end of November, with an e-learning part launched on 13 December and one-week in-class training for 20 participants planned for 22 to 26 January 2018 in Tirana, Albania. Five more regional training courses are scheduled to take place in the period from February until April 2018. 25