it. Participants agreed that efforts should be made to raise awareness on gender equality and how gender needs to be mainstreamed in line with human rights standards in the work of law enforcement and justice professionals. During the forum, one participant underlined that such training should be conducted on a continuous basis to ensure that new recruits and employees are also sensitive to such issues. Hate Crime ODIHR continued to implement its “Training against Hate Crime for Law Enforcement” (TAHCLE)7 Programme throughout 2016. In particular, ODIHR signed agreements to implement TAHCLE and commenced the programme in Turkey, Finland and Iceland, as well as with the Valencia local police. By the end of 2016, thirteen OSCE participating States had committed to implementing the TAHCLE training curriculum8. Four more participating States expressed their interest in implementing TAHCLE in 20179. On 22 January, ODIHR signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Turkish National Police Academy (TNPA) to implement the TAHCLE Programme10. In line with the MoU, the TNPA established a TAHCLE National Implementation Working Group (NIWG) consisting of representatives from the TNPA, Turkish National Police, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ombudperson’s Office, Ministry of Justice, Prosecutor’s Office and Academy of Justice to assist in the implementation of the programme. Together with the NIWG, ODIHR customized the training curriculum to the national context and included relevant hate crime provisions and case studies typical to the hate crime context in Turkey. From 26 to 28 April, ODIHR conducted two TAHCLE training-of-trainers sessions for 60 participants (46 men and 14 women) from the TNPA and Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs in Ankara. The trained participants are expected to deliver the training to all relevant police officers throughout the country. By the end of 2016, TNPA reported to ODIHR that 1,369 personnel were trained (281 ranked police chiefs, 1,088 police officers and academics). Continuation of the delivery is planned in 2017. 136 On 29 February, ODIHR signed a MoU to implement TAHCLE with the Valencia Local Police11. In Valencia, Spain, ODIHR delivered an awareness-raising workshop on hate crimes for around 50 representatives of the Valencia Local Police and local civil society organizations. ODIHR facilitated a discussion between the police and civil society representatives, which helped to provide a better understanding of the issues of hate-motivated violence, targeted groups and police responses to the issues for both sides. From 3 to 5 May, in the framework of the TAHCLE implementation, ODIHR delivered a training-of-trainers session for 34 participants from the Valencia Local Police Academy. During the training, ODIHR trainers presented the TAHCLE curriculum covering areas such as hate crime definition and legislation, police responses to hate crimes, bias indicators and investigation, and spoke about the importance of co-operation with communities in addressing hate crimes. On 28 April, ODIHR signed a MoU with the National Police Board of Finland (NPBF) to implement the TAHCLE Programme in Finland12. This was followed by an ODIHR needs assessment mission (NAM) to Finland, with the purpose of learning about the national hate crime context and identifying the needs for the training. Findings of the mission informed the customization of the training materials, which was done together with the Finnish NIWG. The NIWG consisted of representatives of the NPBF, Ministry of Interior, Non-Discrimination Ombudsman, Länsi-Uusimaa Police Department and the Police University College. The TAHCLE Programme in Finland envisages one awareness-raising workshop for senior level officials of the Finnish Police, two training-of-trainers sessions for up to 50 police officers, and a subsequent cascading to police officers throughout the whole country. In the framework of the MoU signed between ODIHR and the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police in 2014 to support the Romanian Police in implementing a project entitled “Integrated Approach for Preventing Victimization in Roma Communities,” ODIHR delivered the TAHCLE Programme in Romania in 2016. This included two training-of-trainer sessions for 40 representatives (33 men, 7 women) of the Romanian Police, which were delivered in June and July at the Slatina Police School and the Police School “Vasile Lascar” in Campina respectively. In both trainings, participants appreciated the interactive format of the training and engaged in lively constructive discussions, indicating their strong interest to participate in the cascading process in Romania. 7 Training Against Hate Crimes for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE), http://www.osce.org/ odihr/tahcle. 8 Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Montenegro, Latvia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Lithuania, Turkey, Romania, Finland, and Iceland. Police trainings were also held in Kosovo and the city of Valencia (All references to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions or population, in this text should be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244). 9 Estonia, Malta, Slovakia and Ukraine. 11 OSCE/ODIHR news item is available at http://www.osce.org/odihr/224961. 10 OSCE/ODIHR news item is available at http://www.osce.org/odihr/217741. 12 OSCE/ODIHR news item is available at http://www.osce.org/odihr/237356.