PREFACE BY THE OSCE SECRETARY GENERAL This is the tenth Annual Report of the Secretary General on Police-Related Activities, submitted in accordance with Decision 9 of the Bucharest Ministerial Council Meeting in December 2001. When the first Annual Report on police-related activities was published in 2002, OSCE had deployed police components to four field operations in South-Eastern Europe only. Since then, police-related activities have become a key element of the Organization’s efforts to address threats to security and stability in the OSCE region posed by criminal activity emanating from organized crime, including terrorism and trafficking in drugs and human beings. They are also an integral part of the OSCE’s efforts in conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation. At the end of 2011, 14 field operations implemented police-related programmes and projects. From initially concentrating on building basic policing capacities of the field operations’ host States in post-conflict scenarios, the focus of activities has shifted to consolidating achievements and providing strategic support in planning and implementing comprehensive police reforms as well as specialized training in various specific areas of combating organized transnational crime and terrorism. While some police-related activities may have changed over time, the norms, principles and standards defined by the United Nations and the OSCE, have remained the foundation for these activities, promoting the principles and elements of democratic policing, including the respect for the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the importance of police-public partnerships for solving crime and enhancing community safety and security. With a growing list of mandates and tasks, which have been provided by various Ministerial Council and Permanent Council decisions since 1998, not only the number of field operations with police components have increased but also the number of thematic units within the Secretariat that deal with police-related issues. This is due to OSCE’ comprehensive and cross-dimensional approach to the three dimensions of security. A comprehensive stock taking report on OSCE’s police-related activities since 1998 was presented in 2010, analyzing and assessing OSCE police-related activities, and providing forward-looking perspectives and strategic recommendations for OSCE policing. One of the forward looking recommendations of the report was to further increase the coordination between the various executive structures in the cross-dimensional police-related activities. My proposal to create a new Department within the OSCE Secretariat to address transnational threats was welcomed by the participating States who adopted MC.DEC/9/11. This will strengthen co-ordination and coherence in the OSCE’s efforts to address transnational threats. I am looking forward to the further development of policing programmes in the OSCE participating States which are already a specific brand of the organization. Lamberto Zannier OSCE Secretary General 9