4.3 Mission in Kosovo Background The OSCE Mission in Kosovo (OMiK or the Mission), the largest OSCE field operation, forms a distinct component of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).10 It is mandated with institution- and democracy-building and promoting human rights and the rule of law. In 1999, the OSCE was mandated with training the new police service that was to uphold human rights and democratic policing principles. To do so, the Mission’s Department of Police Education and Development (DPED) created an institution – the Kosovo Police Service School – that in 2006 evolved into the Kosovo Centre for Public Safety Education and Development (KCPSED) and in 2011 into the Kosovo Academy for Public Safety (KAPS). In order to better reflect the broader context of its programmes with justice, safety and security-sector development, the DPED itself became the Department for Security and Public Safety (DSPS) in 2006. In 2014, the DSPS mainly comprised 12 international and 28 national members of staff. It utilized its internal resources to continue conducting many training courses and to advise and mentor its counterparts from the Kosovo Police (KP) and other public safety institutions. The DSPS implemented around 100 projects/activities financed by the unified budget and an additional 25 through the extrabudgetary projects.11 Most of these activities consisted of specialized and advanced training courses, mainly focusing on building the capacities of the KP and other public safety institutions to combat and prevent all forms of transnational threats, such as organized crime, cybercrime, economic crime, corruption, terrorism and illicit trafficking of drugs. It continued to focus on training-of-trainers activities and plans to do the same in the future. The DSPS also contributed to the reviewing of several strategies and action plans that aim to enhance the security sector. With the signed Brussels Agreement between Prishtinë/Priština and Belgrade and with the set priority from the Mission to integrate and provide training to the newly recruited police officers of the Regional Directorate in Mitrovica/Mitrovicë North, during the last quarter of 2014, the DSPS conducted several specialized training activities for the Kosovo Police in the northern municipalities in Kosovo. Further, several workshops and meetings with Kosovo Police officers, local residents and government officials were held in efforts to promote and establish a community safety infrastructure in the north. The Department of Human Rights and Communities’ Security Monitoring Section (DHRC SMS) is mandated to monitor law enforcement agencies' compliance with human rights. It focuses on the development of an independent and effective police service that applies human rights standards. The strategy to fulfil this mandate includes proactive monitoring of the Kosovo Police; addressing the institutional and legal gaps through confidential reporting; advising police authorities on remedial and/or corrective actions; and human rights capacity building within the KP. DHRC SMS has a total of 17 staff members, six international and 11 local staff members. Five staff members are based in the HQ, while the rest are deployed to all OMiK Regional Centres. DHRC SMS field teams cover all seven police regions (Ferizaj/Uroševac, Gjilan/Gnjilane, Mitrovicë/Mitrovica North, Mitrovicë/Mitrovica South, Pejë/Peć, Prishtinë/Priština, Prizren) and provide information that is analysed and channelled to the Kosovo Police Management. 10 11 60 All references to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions or populations, in this text should be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244. These numbers are smaller than the numbers used when drafting the Executive Summary of this report. In order to provide greater detail about the relative effort devoted various topics, the counting method used in the Executive Summary divided all projects into discrete activities whenever possible.