4.9 Office in Yerevan Strengthening police units dealing with domestic violence In 2016, alongside efforts to Domestic Violence Issues was nature, could potentially escalate ensure overall capacity-building of Gegharkunik Marz. During the into domestic violence. These the police and to conduct public Project, 15 cases of domestic cases were discussed within awareness-raising on domestic violence were reported to the a joint group of Gavar Police violence, the Office continued the district Police Station in the town officers and representatives from practice of organizing discussions of Gavar. However, only 2 of those Social Support Services, and on individual domestic violence cases were classified as domestic relevant recommendations and cases in order to provide a tailored violence. To tackle the identified consultations were provided in approach and targeted response cases, multiagency meetings order to resolve them. for each of them. This practice were convened with the Head of was adopted to ensure a practical the Family, Women and Children application of the multi-agency Rights Protection Unit from Gavar partnership model devised and Municipality, representatives recommended by the Office as a from regional Guardianship and method for streamlining and co- Trusteeship Councils, the Municipal ordinating the activities of various Social Assistance Division, World stakeholders in order to address Vision-Armenia Gavar Branch domestic violence effectively. The and other relevant NGOs. Based rationale behind the model is that on the role and resources of all no one agency on its own can stakeholders, action plans were address the full range of problems designed for each of the processed created by domestic violence and cases, specifying responsible that, in order to be effective, they parties and deadlines. must all work together and co- Since March, the Martuni Police Station of Gegharkunik Marz handled ten domestic violence cases, and in each of them, similar multiagency consultations and discussions were organized. As a result of these discussions, victims in four cases were referred to relevant organizations that were in the position to address their problem, and two home-visits were organized to evaluate the situation in one of the families. In the above mentioned interventions, two cases Alongside the identified domestic were positively resolved, and in violence cases, consultations another two cases, the co-operation One of the target regions of were provided on another eight between the Police and social the Office’s 2016 Project for reports which, although each of services began to take shape. Strengthening Police Units on them had a family social security ordinate their response. Activities Related to Threats Posed by Criminal Activity protecting and promoting human rights, and including civil society in these activities. Cybercrime Illicit Drugs and Chemical Precursors On 13 and 14 October, an Office-supported representative of the Operative-Informational Unit of the Police Department of Fighting against Illegal Drug Trafficking participated in the OSCE-wide conference on tackling the world drug problem, held in Vienna, Austria. The conference covered topics related to combating drug-related crime and violence, promoting health and welfare in communities and society, 106 On 5 May, Office representatives met with the Police head of the General Department on the Fight against Organized Crime to discuss cybercrime-related activities. During the meeting, the Office donated technical equipment to the Police Department to address crimes related to information and communication technologies. The Office was requested to continue its support in organizing training for police officers and assisting in the harmonization of national cybercrime legislation.