4.3 Mission in Kosovo From 12-16 October, the final round of these roundtable meetings was held, where, upon the request of the KP regional training officer, the topics dealing with issues in compliance with the Kosovo Criminal Procedure Code were explained. Gender-Based and Domestic Violence Between November and December, the Mission’s Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Section (TNDS) organized five oneday roundtables to present the findings from the monitoring of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for protection from domestic violence. The findings were presented and discussed with 139 relevant stakeholders (79 women and 60 men), including members of the centres for social work, KP Domestic Violence Units (DVU), victim advocates, Kosovo Shelter Coalition, municipal directorates, municipal gender officers, and civil society. The goal was to improve responses to and protection of victims’ rights when addressing cases of domestic violence. Monitoring was conducted through the Mission’s domestic violence focal points and assessed the compliance of two stakeholders: the centres for social work and victim’s advocates. Between February and December, the Mission’s TNDS organized 14 working group meetings to support the establishment of municipal domestic violence co-ordination mechanisms in Prizren, Pejë/Peć, Viti/Vitina, Gllogovc/ Glogovac, Lipjan/Lipjane, Prishtinë/Priština, and Vushtrri/ Vućitrn. The meetings gathered 260 of the main domestic violence duty bearers (141 women and 119 men) at the municipal level involved in identification and protection of victims of domestic violence. Additionally, TNDS, together with UN Women and UNDP, supported the Kosovo Coordinator against Domestic Violence to organize four two-day workshops to draft a new Kosovo Strategy and Action Plan against Domestic Violence for 2016-2020. The workshops were attended by 150 participants (109 women and 41 men), including members of the inter-ministerial working group on domestic violence, KP DVUs, prosecutors, judges, Kosovo Shelter Coalition, international organizations, and civil society. Hate Crime The Mission continued to implement a comprehensive programme in the area of combating hate crimes, continuing its focus on the KP as a first responder. Following the Mission’s extensive advocacy efforts, the KP included hate crime into its mandatory police training curriculum at KAPS. From 18-27 February, the Mission organized eight one-day trainings on hate crime investigation, one in each police region, for KP investigators and Kosovo prosecutors. The training was the result of the 2014 assessment of the KP’s 56 investigation on hate crimes, which highlighted the need for further training in this area. The participants were trained on a number of issues, such as the relevant international standards and the legal framework in Kosovo, the use of bias indicators in investigating hate crimes, the use of barriers and solutions to effectively prosecute hate crimes, and the use of motive evidence. Additionally, from 26-27 May, the Mission organized two one-day trainings on hate crime data collection mechanisms for KP officers, including database officers, first response officers and investigators. The lack of data collection on hate crimes by police and other institutions remains one of the main challenges identified through the Mission’s monitoring of KP activities. The training was led by a hate crime officer from the ODIHR and a KP trainer. The training introduced participants to ODIHR’s ten practical steps on hate crime data collection. From 22-24 June, the Mission’s Property Section organized a three-day training of trainers on cultural heritage for youth. Twelve students from the Faculty of Architecture of Prishtinë/ Priština University and six members of civil society from the Mitrovicë/Mitrovica region participated. Presentations were delivered by representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, the Mission, and the KP. Presentations delivered by the KP focused on hate crimes, which involve damaging of religious or sacred objects and graffiti with offensive content posted on religious sites. Furthermore, from 31 August-4 September, the Mission delivered an advanced training on hate crime investigation techniques to 17 participants of the KP, with the majority of the officers stationed in both municipalities of Mitrovicë/ Mitrovica. The course aimed to enhance the trainee’s skills base to properly conduct hate crime investigations, and focused mainly on the current policies and procedures on hate crimes and the Criminal Procedure Code of Kosovo. Specialized Investigations Units / Forensics Throughout 2015, the Mission continued to provide support to the KP and Kosovo Agency on Forensic (KAF), not only at the operational level by conducting specialized and advanced training for its officers, but also at the strategic level by supporting and providing assistance in the revision and evaluation of the current KP training strategy. From 18-20 May, an explosives expert of the KAF and a representative from the Mission attended the 11th annual conference on Forensics International Network for Explosives Investigation held in Wiesbaden, Germany. The conference brought together explosive investigation experts from different

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents