4.2 Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina In recognition of the significance of the safety of journalists, and working toward an improved co-operation and mutual understanding between law enforcement agencies and media professionals, the Mission organized two workshops for 80 police officers from the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) in April and November in Istočno Sarajevo. The workshops focused on the rights and responsibilities of media and police, their mutual relations, and the investigation of attacks and threats against journalists. The activity contributed to an increased awareness and strengthened capacities of the participating police officers to more effectively ensure the safety of journalists, improve the law enforcement response to crimes against journalists, and allow journalists to fully exercise their right to report and access information. The Mission also used the opportunity to present to the participants the OSCE Guidelines for Co-operation between Media and Police. Community Policing, Police-Public Relations and Crime Prevention From 14 to 15 May, the Mission provided support to the TNTD/SPMU and ODIHR-organized pilot training course for community policing officers based on the OSCE Guidebook on Community Policing Approaches to P/C VERLT. The twoday training was attended by 21 community policing officers and senior police officers from the MoI of Canton Sarajevo, as well as  five representatives of civil society who shared their perspectives on the preventive role of community policing. The training course was aimed at increasing the knowledge of community policing officers regarding their role in P/C VERLT, to obtain their feedback as well as their input on the pilot training so as to finalize and roll it out in other locations. From 3 to 8 June, the Mission organized its annual Youth and Security Summer School, in partnership with the BiH Council of Ministers’ Inter-Ministerial Working Group for Monitoring the Implementation of BiH’s Security Policy. The event was attended by more than 20 young female and male security experts from public and private universities across the country. They were familiarized with the mission, roles, responsibilities and daily work of the different security sector institutions and their key partners, including the role of civil society, the significance of and various approaches to implementation of the security policy framework, and the challenges and trends related to broader security-related matters. The School also benefited the participants from security sector institutions, who were given an opportunity to raise their awareness on youth-specific needs and priorities in an open and constructive exchange of views and opinions. Moreover, the School attained one of its foremost aims: to increase trust and confidence of the public in security and defence institutions. 52 Gender-based and Domestic Violence Training seminars for police officers on police intervention in cases of domestic violence remained high on the Mission’s agenda, in view of the most recent data that suggests that nearly 50 per cent of women in BiH over the age of 15, have experienced some form of violence. In 2018, the Mission continued its co-operation with police structures across BiH on combating domestic violence and promoting gender equality. The Mission had assisted the FBiH Gender Centre in 2014 to develop a database on domestic violence, which connects all relevant institutions, including the police, in a network that was established to track domestic violence cases. The network, consisting of SOS lines for victims of domestic violence, social welfare centres, safe houses and police, decreases the need for repeated testimony of victims/survivors and so protects them from secondary victimization. Building on this tangible result, the Mission cooperated with the BiH Association of Women Police Officers and the FBiH Gender Centre on sustained education of police officers and other relevant parties on the use of the database and sharing of good practices on police interventions in cases of domestic violence. Since 2014, the Mission has supported training and capacity-building of more than 800 police officers in FBiH on the use of the database. The Mission also partnered with the Republika Srpska (RS) Association of Women Police Officers to provide training to police structures in the RS on provisions of the RS Criminal Code and the RS Law on Combating Domestic Violence, as well as to share good practices on police interventions in cases of domestic violence. Upon adoption of the Brčko District BiH Law on Combating Domestic Violence in 2018, the same training was provided to Brčko District Police. In 2018, the new leadership of the BiH Association of Women Police Officers was supported by the Mission to organize training courses for members of the Association on the principles of gender equality and relevant legislation. These courses contributed to an improved awareness and knowledge of women police officers on legal protections in cases of sexual and other forms of harassment, matters of concern which often remain underreported. In co-operation with the Mission’s Rule of Law Section, the Gender Unit also supported a successful training event for shift leaders in Tuzla Canton on gender perspectives relevant to police work. Hate Crime In 2018, the Mission continued its capacity-building and awareness-raising activities involving law enforcement agencies and other relevant stakeholders in order to improve the criminal justice system’s response to bias-motivated incidents and hate crimes in BiH. The Mission maintained its