Trainers from Bosnia and Herzegovina learn new techniques on investigating terrorist financing

A three-day train-the-trainer course on undertaking effective investigations in the course of an unfolding terrorist attack for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) concluded on 24 February 2022 in Vienna. The course was the third of its kind for BiH as part of sustained efforts by the OSCE and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to better counter terrorist financing and build training capability for the country.

The group of eight seasoned trainers from the Ministry of Security of BiH, the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, the State Investigation and Protection Agency, the Ministry of Interior of the Federation of BiH, the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska and Brčko District Police fine-tuned the training material to meet local needs and context. After the successful delivery of the courses on Foundation and Analysis in 2021, the trainers will train a group of fellow BiH security officials. The training courses aim to develop and test the skills of national experts to identify, investigate and disrupt the financing of terrorism and to strengthen interagency co-operation and links with international partners engaged in countering financing of terrorism.

Alena Kupchyna, OSCE Co-ordinator for Activities to Address Transnational Threats, addressed the group during the opening session, commending their commitment to the programme: “Thanks to your engagement, we are seeing positive effects of the trainings related to increased knowledge, improved cross-agency work, information sharing, trust building and public private partnerships.”

The training programme on countering the financing of terrorism has been implemented in BiH since December 2020 in co-ordination with the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The train-the-trainer course was organized with the financial support of the United States within the framework of the extra-budgetary “Train-the-trainer and Training Courses on Countering Terrorist Financing”.