4.5 Mission to Serbia Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office attended the seminars and discussed possible ways to suppress irregularities and fraud in the handling of public funds. From September to November, the Mission and the MoI organized a fourteen-day ToT course on ���Fighting Money Laundering and Countering Terrorism Financing” for police investigators. A total of 15 officers took part in three modules: “Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing”, “Most Common and New Typologies of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing” and “The International Community’s Response”. Upon completion of the course, the officers took ownership of the training course and will pass this knowledge on to their colleagues in the police. This effort contributed to building the capacities of police investigators to fight money laundering and counter terrorism financing. From 1 to 12 October, the Mission supported five participants, three prosecutors from the Special Prosecution Office and two police officers, to attend the course “How to carry out fiscal checks and investigations aimed at combating international tax evasion, smuggling and corruption” in Ostia, Italy. The course was organized in the Guardia di Finanza training school and was implemented under a MoU in the field of education, signed between the Ministry of Justice of Serbia and the Italian Financial Police and implemented by the Judicial Academy. Counter-Terrorism & P/C VERLT To help Serbia build its capacities in P/C VERLT: • On 8 and 9 February, the Mission, together with the MoI, organized a mock training exercise on P/C VERLT for seven trainers from the Uniformed Police and the Service for Countering Terrorism and Extremism. The activity enabled the officers, who completed the ToT course in December 2017, to try out their newly acquired training skills and fine-tune the training materials they have produced; • On 12 and 13 March in Novi Sad, 15 and 16 March in Niš, 22 and 23 March in Novi Pazar, and 16 and 17 April in Belgrade, the Mission, together with the MoI, organized four pilot training courses on P/C VERLT. Seven trainers from the MoI’s Uniformed Police and the Service for Countering Terrorism and Extremism, who participated in the Mission’s 2017 ToT courses on P/C VERLT, shared their knowledge and experience on early identification and P/C VERLT with 70 local police officers from the uniformed police and the local sections for countering terrorism and extremism. They learned how community policing can effectively prevent unwanted events from escalating, and improve general safety of the community; 92 • From 5 to 9 November, the Mission supported the organization of a four-day workshop for a group of police trainers specialized in P/C VERLT. They developed a guiding tool for the police, which describes possible sources and manifestations of VERLT, as well as adequate police engagement at community level to respond to them; • From 4 to 7 December, the Mission supported the organization of a three-day working meeting for a group of police trainers to assist them in developing a brochure on the possible sources and manifestations of VERLT and aspects of adequate police engagement at the community level. In early 2019, the Mission will support the MoI in printing the material and sharing it with relevant target groups. From 27 to 29 March, the Mission assisted the UN CounterTerrorism Committee Executive Directorate (UNCTED) in conducting a visit to Serbia. The visit’s focus was to assess the progress made by Serbia in implementing the recommendations made by the Committee during its 2013 visit and addressed measures introduced to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2178 and other relevant Council resolutions. In accordance with the practice followed during the Committee’s previous visits, the human rights aspects of Serbia’s counter-terrorism measures and the role of women in countering terrorism and violent extremism in accordance with UNSCR 2242 were also raised during the discussions. During the visit, the delegation met numerous government officials, technical assistance providers, implementing partners, as well as the Head of Mission and representatives of civil society. On 18 December, to support the Serbian authorities in the implementation of the National Strategy for the Prevention and Countering of Terrorism for the period 2017-2021, the Mission supported the Government’s Office for Co-operation with Civil Society in the organization of a consultative meeting with the SCOs active in the area of P/C VERLT. The meeting was an opportunity for the MoI, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, as well as for 35 representatives of relevant CSOs, to share information and thereby strengthen their communication and partnership in this important area. It was also an opportunity for the Mission to promote the OSCE Handbook on The Role of Civil Society in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism: A Focus on SouthEastern Europe and to provide an update by its expert staff on the Mission’s efforts in this area.