POLICE-RELATED ACTIVITIES OF FIELD OPERATIONS SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzogovina co-organized the regional conference on “Foreign Terrorist Fighters – Challenges for South East Europe” Ř The Mission, together with the Ř The keynote address was on the Ř Presentations on national efforts BiH Ministry of Security and the EU Western Balkans Counter- and challenges were made by RACVIAC Centre for Security Terrorism Initiative; Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Co-operation, co-organized this event as an activity under the current BiH Council of Europe Chairmanship; Ř The event gathered more than 100 participants; Ř The aim of the conference was to provide a platform for the region’s national authorities, including expert practitioners, civil society and academia Ř During the conference’s international panel, presentations were made on the international framework and efforts for Croatia, Montenegro, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey; Ř Discussions focused on support to the region, including effective regional co-operation the Additional Protocol to the in prevention of radicalization to Council of Europe’s Convention terrorism and FTF recruitment, on Prevention of Terrorism, UN prevention of FTF from crossing obligations under UNSCR 2178, state borders, disruption and and support provided by the prevention of financial support UNODC; to FTF, and development and representatives, to discuss the foreign terrorist fighter (FTF) phenomenon; up  with external experts to present the international and domestic legal framework, legal qualifications, proceedings, sanctioning, elements of bias, and victim-related aspects of hate  crimes. Presentations were followed by discussions, which clarified certain ambiguous  characteristics of this type of crime, including those related to ensuring adequate legal  qualification of hate crimes and bias-motivated incidents, as well as to obtaining sufficient and  appropriate evidence to substantiate the legal qualification. Activities Related to Threats Posed by Criminal Activity implementation of prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration strategies for returning FTF. Counter-Terrorism & VERLT The following events were organized as part of the ExB project funded by the US Department of State Bureau of Counterterrorism, titled “Support the Dialogue on Prevention of Violent Extremism in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. t
From 22-23 October, the Mission, in co-operation with the Ministry of Security of BiH, organized a workshop on the topic of Engagement of Civil Society in Countering Violent Extremism in Jahorina, BiH. The workshop gathered over 70 participants from the security, government, nongovernmental, academic, education and media sectors, as well as a representative of the BiH Inter-religious Council. The event was aimed at raising awareness on the violent radicalization process in BiH. Criminal Investigations and Analysis On 14 December, the Mission provided legal  analysis and assistance to the use of the first successful videoconference for the purpose of obtaining a statement of a witness residing outside of BiH during an ongoing war crimes investigation. The Prosecutor’s Office of Central Bosnia Canton, in cooperation with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, took the statement in accordance with the guidelines  developed by the Mission through its War Crimes Capacity-Building Project (WCCP) and with  regulations governing the use of international legal assistance. t
From 7-8 December, in Sarajevo, a workshop on the topic of partnership in countering violent extremism between the security sector and civil society, local government, communities, and the private sector was organized. The workshop gathered 56 participants from the prosecutors’ offices, law enforcement agencies, relevant State ministries, municipalities, religious communities, media and civil society who discussed establishment of strong partnerships aimed at countering violent extremism and radicalization in BiH. Conclusions included the necessity 45