Annual Report of the Secretary General on Police-Related Activities in 2008
Description
This report provides information about police-related activities of the SPMU, as well as other cross-dimensional police-related activities of other thematic units in the Secretariat and OSCE Institutions. It also gives an overview of the capacity and institution building activities undertaken by the OSCE field operations in support of their respective host-State governments.
Summary
In 2008, the SPMU continued providing police-related support to the OSCE Secretary General and the OSCE Chairman-in-Office. The unit also responded to participating States’ request for assistance in police reforms; and supported the OSCE field operations in the implementation of their mandates. Support of the field operations included, inter alia, assistance in screening and selecting new personnel, the provision of advice on the formulation and implementation of new projects, and a comprehensive lessons learned exercise with the field operations in South-Eastern Europe with respect to the implementation of police-related programmes during the last ten years.
The SPMU’s efforts in developing baseline police capacities of participating States and its support to policy development was underpinned by the release of two key publications on police-public partnerships and basic police training curricula; by the translation of the police-related chapters of the Criminal Justice Assessment Toolkit into the Russian language and by the distribution of all SPMU key publications to the OSCE field operations. Furthermore, the SPMU embarked on operationalizing its key publications in the frame of regional
roundtables, thereby raising awareness of the principles of democratic policing among practitioners of the criminal justice systems and law makers of the participating States.
SPMU training projects focused on combating illegal drugs and investigating Trafficking in Human Beings and on assisting field operations in conducting their own training projects. The SPMU was also very active in dealing with organised crime issues, organising and participating in a number of organised crime cluster meetings within the OSCE and in a number of workshops in co-operation with the UNODC and other international partner organisations.
Utilizing its Policing Online Information System, the SPMU also continued serving as a main collection point and central repository for OSCE police-related institutional knowledge, providing the platform for sharing information resulting from OSCE activities, from local initiatives and from development work of other international organisations and agencies. The POLIS platform was also used for conducting the first online workshops in the OSCE.