POLICE-RELATED ACTIVITIES OF FIELD OPERATIONS SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE Trafficking in Human Beings and Migration-related Crime The Mission continued its efforts to strengthen domestic authorities’ capacities to counter trafficking in human beings (THB). On 7 June, upon the invitation of the BiH Ministry of Security, the Mission trained 20 officers from the Border Police and Service for Foreigners’ Affairs on a wide array of topics relating to THB. Emphasis was placed on relevant legislative frameworks, legal measures in securing evidence, and the identification and protection of trafficking victims. The training aimed to strengthen the ability of the statelevel law enforcement agencies to detect and investigate this phenomenon, addressing multiple and evolving borderrelated threats which require effective inter-agency cooperation and integrated border management. The Mission directed particular attention to the problem of child begging in BiH. To tackle this issue, the Mission organized four peer-to-peer meetings and workshops which gathered more than one hundred representatives of the judiciary, law enforcement, social service providers and civil society organizations. These were held in Sarajevo Canton on 7 March and 20 April, Tuzla Canton on 23 May, Central Bosnia Canton on 28 March and Una-Sana Canton on 10 October. The participants actively engaged in discussions on finding a workable solution to the widespread problem of child begging on the streets. They called for the improvement of co-operation between prosecutors and police officers in order to avoid double jeopardy in cases of begging that might be tried as different offenses before different courts. At the local level, the adoption of a protocol for dealing with cases of forced begging is considered an example of good practice. In this respect, the Mission has been supporting the activities of the prosecutorial and law enforcement authorities in Sarajevo Canton in drafting a protocol for the support of victims of crime, including victims of human trafficking. In December, the Mission also supported law enforcement in Tuzla Canton in developing a practical tool that would improve their capacity to identify victims of human trafficking and investigate such cases. At the regional level, jointly with TNTD, IOM and the Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Section of the Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch of the UNODC, the Mission organized the Regional Seminar “Moving Forward in Addressing Migration-related Crimes in South-Eastern Europe”. The seminar was held in Sarajevo on 19 and 20 September, gathering more than 100 participants, with the aim to identify gaps, challenges and good practices in responding to human trafficking and migration-related crimes, as well as to strengthen information-sharing networks between countries of origin, transit and destination. The event used a multidisciplinary approach and focused concretely on the vulnerability of migrants. On 10 October, the Mission organized a roundtable on “Begging and Labour Exploitation as a Form of Human Trafficking” in Bihać. The roundtable was organized for police officers of the Cantonal Ministry of Interior of UnaSana Canton, the prosecutors of the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office and judges from the Municipal and Cantonal Court. The focus of the roundtable, which was organized as a peerto-peer event, was how to address the increased levels of child begging. It dealt with the practical aspects of identifying, investigating, and prosecuting forced begging cases. As a consequence, later in the year, local law enforcement agencies were successful in discovering and breaking a forced begging ring on the territory of Una-Sana Canton. The Mission’s activities with law purpose of begging, and sentenced between the police and the enforcement and the prosecution the trafficker to five years in prison. Prosecutor’s Office, from the yielded practical results in 2017. This case was the direct result of earliest stages of the proceedings Namely, on 16 November, the first the Mission’s training and advocacy to the successful completion of entity-level conviction in a human on the topic. Generally speaking, the case. Finally, it represents a trafficking case was pronounced this case represents the first positive development regarding by a court in the Federation of attempt by law enforcement and the generally lenient penal policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The judicial institutions in the Federation human trafficking cases; the penalty court accepted a Plea Bargaining of Bosnia and Herzegovina to of five years’ imprisonment in this Agreement, according to which the tackle the widespread problem of case adequately reflects the gravity defendant confessed to the crime child begging. It also demonstrates of the crime. of trafficking six children for the the positive effect of joint efforts 51