Activities of the Transnational Threats Department On 24 and 25 July, TNTD/SPMU participated in the regional meeting of HoLEDs in Central Asia in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The meeting was co-organized by TNTD/SPMU and the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe (POiD). HoLEDs in Central Asia, with the exception of the Centre in Ashgabat, participated in the meeting, as did representatives from UNODC, UNDP, and of the embassies of Germany, the Russian Federation, and the United States. The OSCE field operations present at the meeting introduced their main current and upcoming priorities, strategies and projects, and elaborated on the main challenges and threats their host country is facing. After the meeting, participants paid a study visit to the Police Academy of the Tajik Ministry of Interior (MoI) and to a Model Police Station in Khissor that had been newly built and equipped with support of the OSCE POiD. On 26 and 27 September, TNTD/SPMU participated in the "2018 European Police Chiefs Convention", organized at Europol in The Hague, the Netherlands. The main goals of this annual event are to gather police decision-makers at policy and strategic levels from European Union Members States (EU MS), and senior practitioners from international as well as partner organizations, and to provide a forum for discussion at which all stakeholders can express their expectations from Europol, and Europol’s management can in turn share their own concerns. Around 400 participants from the EU MS, EU Mediterranean Partner countries, observers from third countries (including Norway and the United States), as well as from regional and international organizations participated in the convention. On 22 and 23 October, TNTD/SPMU assisted the Italian OSCE Chairmanship in organizing the 2018 Annual Police Expert Meeting on “Future Policing Strategies: Addressing Trends and Changes in a Globalized World”. The meeting was attended by some 130 participants from OSCE participating States, Partners for Co-operation, and regional and international organizations. The meeting included three main parts in addition to the opening and closing sessions: Crime Trends and New and Emerging Threats; Planning for the Future; and Enhancing Efforts to Confiscate Criminal Proceeds. The Italian Chairmanship disseminated the meeting’s Key Findings and Outcomes document following the event (SEC.GAL/200/18). On 24 and 25 October, TNTD/SPMU organized the “Annual Meeting of Heads of Security Co-operation/Law Enforcement Departments” from all OSCE field operations in Vienna, Austria. The purpose of this annual meeting is to co-ordinate activities and exchange relevant information about priorities and future plans in the politico-military dimension, with special focus on police-related activities, community policing, organized crime and THB. This year’s meeting was divided TNTD officials and the Permanent Representatives of Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania (beneficiary countries) and the European Union (main donor) at the Kick-off Event of the Project on Gender-based Violence, in Vienna, 20-21 September 2018. (OSCE/Micky Kroell) into four sessions. Session one focused on “Community Policing: Field Operations’ Updates and Sharing of Plans, Experiences and Best Practices”. In session two, participants learned from the Secretariat about relevant recommendations and “Updates from the Department of Human Resources, the Office of Internal Oversight and the Gender Section”. In session three, experts presented on the means and methods used by organized criminal groups in THB, responses of States to prevent such trafficking, and the need to focus on the protection of victims. Finally, session four provided the participants with “Updates from the Conflict Prevention Centre (CPC), TNTD and Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA)”. On 12 and 13 December, TNTD/SPMU took part in the "42nd Conference of Chiefs of Arab Police and Security Agencies" in Tunis, Tunisia. The conference was organized by the Arab Interior Ministers’ Council (AIMC), under the overall auspices of the League of Arab States. Opened by the Tunisian Prime Minister, it gathered around 200 representatives from 20 out of 23 member states of the AIMC and from a number of international organizations. TNTD/SPMU was invited to deliver a contribution about the OSCE and its engagement in police-related matters. Some AIMC members expressed interest in co-operating and/or exchanging information with the OSCE, mainly on counter-terrorism and ILP. On the margins of the conference, TNTD/SPMU had lateral discussions with counterparts from INTERPOL, UNODC and Europol. 19