3. POLICE-RELATED ACTIVITIES OF THEMATIC UNITS 3.1 The Action against Terrorism Unit Background The OSCE Action against Terrorism Unit (ATU), established in the OSCE Secretariat in 2002, serves as the focal point for anti-terrorism co-ordination and liaison within the OSCE. In this role, and by a decision of the 2003 Maastricht Ministerial Council, the ATU is mandated to co-ordinate and facilitate OSCE counter-terrorism activities, including capacitybuilding assistance programmes, training and contingency-preparedness workshops, with a view to effectively utilizing resources and avoiding unnecessary duplication. Recognizing that terrorism is a form of criminal activity and taking into account the important role that police can and should play in the fight against terrorism, the ATU contributes to the programme activities of the SPMU insofar as they are associated with law enforcement aspects of countering terrorism and as much as there exists a criminal-terrorist nexus, such as in the area of combating organized crime and drugs trafficking. The following ATU activities in 2011 touch upon or otherwise relate to police aspects of counter-terrorism work. Counter-terrorism in General In March, an ATU staff member provided a full day lecture on counter-terrorism matters to course participants at the Border Management Staff College (BMSC) in Dushanbe. The H/ATU contributed as a panellist to the UNODC Symposium entitled “Taking Stock and Defining the Way Forward: Strengthening the Response to Terrorism by Addressing Connections with Related Criminal Activities” held at the UN Headquarters in Vienna on 1617 March. On 11-12 May, the ATU supported the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina in organizing a two-day training course on “Security Policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Combating Terrorism” in Jahorina. The course was attended by ministry officials and representatives of police and security institutions dealing with the prevention and the fight against terrorism, as well as by NGOs and the media. The SPMU and ODIHR also took part in the course. On 5-6 October, an ATU representative participated in the Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on “The Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes” in Vienna, hosted by the UNODC Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB), with the support of the Government of the United Kingdom. The overall goal of this initiative is to develop a technical assistance tool aimed at strengthening the institutional capacity of law enforcement and criminal justice systems to deliver effective rule of law-based responses to cases involving the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes. On 29 September, the ATU, upon invitation by the Anti-Terrorism Center of the Commonwealth of Independent States, participated as observer at the Donbass 2012 antiterrorism exercise organized by the Ukrainian Security Service in Donetsk. The aim of the exercise was to demonstrate for anti-terrorist structures of the CIS and its member states the preparedness of the Ukrainian security services – in co-operation with the Polish, Moldovan and Belarus authorities – to deal with security challenges during large sport events. The challenges referred to hostage-taking by terrorist or criminal groups, protection of critical infrastructure and the control of mass riots. 24