4.3 Mission in Kosovo The Mission advocated for better engagement of LPSCs in supporting the best interests of victims of hate crimes and help community members to request information on the status of on-going hate crime investigations. The workshops were very well received by all 150 LPSC members who acknowledged the importance of building mutual trust and strong relations through interaction between LPSC and community policing in order to identify, respond and support victims of hate crimes and maintain both public safety and effective policing. From 9 to 13 July, the Mission organized a specialized training on identifying and investigating hate crimes through the internet for 16 KP officers. The training focused on the definition of the main concepts of hate crimes, an overall overview of hate crimes and hate speech, the international legal framework sanctioning this type of crime, and the legal practices deriving from legislation addressing this matter. The training also included modules on the responsibility of internet service providers to prevent hate speech and hate crimes through the internet, and their obligations to cooperate with law enforcement agencies. The activity was assessed as highly important by participants and additional recommendations were provided for similar engagements in the future. From 24 to 25 October, the Mission attended the Regional Conference on Hate Crimes in SEE, hosted by ODIHR in Warsaw. The two-day conference served as a forum for OSCE field operations to discuss developments in the field of hate crime and networking, shortcomings related to hate crime data collection systems in the regions, and to explore ways to assist officials to address these shortcomings. At the conference, the Mission’s representatives presented the 2018 achievements, focusing on the successful advocacy work undertaken in supporting the MoI, KP, Prosecutor’s Office and KJC, and in developing and signing an inter-agency agreement on the treatment of hate crimes in Kosovo. In addition, the Mission presented all activities undertaken to support the implementation of this agreement, which foresees concrete policy changes in recording hate crimes by police and judiciary. From 20 September to 29 October, the Mission, in co-operation with the KP and Chief Prosecutor’s Office, organized eight regional workshops for regional monitoring networks on the investigation and recording of hate crimes. In general, the workshops introduced the audience to the content of the interagency agreement on the treatment of hate crimes in Kosovo. The agreement includes the amendments to the police initial incident recording form and an update of the police database with all relevant legal provisions from the Criminal Code. It also covers aggravating circumstances leading to stronger penalties for any act committed on the basis of some form of 70 prejudice against a person or a group, and the development of instructions for prosecutors to adequately treat biasedmotivated crimes. During these workshops, participants raised some concerns related to human resources and recommended an establishment of specialized structures to deal with hate crimes. On 24 October, the DHRC of the Mission facilitated a roundtable meeting in the Ferizaj/Uroševac municipality on standardizing the prosecution of hate and bias-motivated crimes before the Ferizaj/Uroševac Basic Court. A total of 19 persons participated, including prosecutors, judges and representatives of the KP. They discussed practical difficulties in classifying bias-motivation crimes, positive and negative examples of legal action against hate crimes across Kosovo, as well as recommendations for a better co-operation of all relevant actors. Recommendations formulated by participants focused on a better central co-ordination on the definition of bias-motivation crimes, better rehabilitation for victims of crimes, and resocialization of perpetrators. The activity builds on the work of the Mission in establishing central-level and regional-level working groups for combatting hate crimes and follows the signing earlier in the year of the inter-agency agreement on the treatment of hate crimes, undertaken with support of the Mission. On 3 and 4 December, the Mission, in co-operation with the KP Training Division, facilitated a workshop to further support civil society in monitoring the investigation and recording of hate crimes. During the workshop, 11 representatives from five different NGOs4, the OI and PIK, were trained on a number of issues, such as the relevant legal framework in Kosovo, police investigation of hate crimes using bias indicators, barriers and solutions to effectively prosecute hate crimes, and the use of motive evidence. Furthermore, participants were introduced to the impact that bias-motivated crimes have on affected communities and the role of the police to properly respond and treat such cases. On 11 December, the Mission facilitated a roundtable meeting with representatives of NGOs, the OI and PIK, to advocate for the creation of a joint database for civil society on identifying and monitoring hate crime cases. At the roundtable meeting, the Mission presented the inter-agency agreement on the treatment of hate crimes and introduced participants to the processes of recording hate crimes foreseen in the treaty, with emphasis placed on the scope of co-operation with civil society. Participants of civil society agreed that there is a need for joint co-operation in combatting hate crimes and asked the Mission for further support in the creation of a joint database 4 Kosovo Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Torture (KRCT), Centre for Peace and Tolerance (CPT), the Roma Ashkalia Documentation Centre (RADC), NGO Aktiv, and the Centre for Social Group Development (CSGD).