harmonizing the national legislation with the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, in view of a possible future ratification of the Convention by Moldova. On 9 July, the recommendations were published in the Opinion, and on 7 October, they were presented and discussed at the ordinary session of the Inter-ministerial Council on Preventing and Combating Violence in Moldova. On this occasion, state counterparts committed themselves to take ODIHR’s recommendations into consideration during ongoing and upcoming revision processes. When reviewing (draft) legislation in the field of criminal justice reform8, ODIHR also provided gender-specific recommendations, particularly in relation to gender and child-sensitive criminal proceedings. This included the adoption of a victim-centered approach to prevent secondary victimization of women and child victims. ODIHR also stressed the importance of ensuring that the criminal justice system and its actors are representative of a state’s community as a whole and are duly trained on gender and human rights issues. ODIHR, furthermore, emphasized the importance of maintaining sex-disaggregated criminal justice statistics, as well as the need to ensure that any legislation on these matters is adopted through an inclusive participatory process. Hate Crime In 2015, ODIHR continued to implement its “Training against Hate Crime for Law Enforcement” (TAHCLE) programme in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Latvia. ODIHR negotiated and signed an agreement to implement TAHCLE in Lithuania, and conducted needs assessment missions for TAHCLE implementation in Turkey and the region of Valencia in Spain. Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in 2014, ODIHR and the working group established by the Bureau for Public Security customized the TAHCLE curriculum to reflect the situation in the country. From 23-29 April, ODIHR delivered two three-day training of trainers sessions for 48 police officers, including five women. The participants strengthened their skills in recognizing and investigating hate crimes, and learned how to deliver training on hate crimes using the TAHCLE curriculum. In November, the OSCE Mission to Skopje, in consultation with ODIHR, organized a follow-up session for 25 previously trained trainers (23 men and 2 women) to refresh their knowledge of the TAHCLE curriculum and to discuss plans to deliver further trainings. 8 132 i.e., the review of the new draft Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, prosecution-related draft legislation of Moldova and Georgia, the draft law on police of Serbia, draft amendments to the Criminal Code of Poland and the review of the legal framework on preventing and combating domestic violence in Moldova. ODIHR conducted a three-day training of trainers session in Latvia for 17 police officers and police trainers, including 12 women. In September, as part of the signed MoU, ODIHR also delivered a one-day awareness-raising seminar for 17 senior-level police officials, including five women. The seminar focused on the concept of hate crimes, relevant legislation, and the role of the police in addressing the issue. In April, the MoI’s Police Department of Lithuania and ODIHR signed an agreement to implement TAHCLE. ODIHR, in cooperation with the working group established by the Police Department, adapted the TAHCLE curriculum to the needs of the Lithuanian Police. In November, ODIHR conducted an awareness-raising seminar on hate crimes for 14 senior officials of the Lithuanian Police, including two women, and a threeday training of trainers session for 31 police officers, including 19 women, from the police headquarters and regional offices. All participants highlighted the usefulness of the training, and agreed on the need to disseminate the knowledge on investigating and addressing hate crimes in Lithuania. From 22-24 July, ODIHR organized a training of trainers session on hate crime for trainers from the Association of European Police Colleges (AEPC) in Warsaw. These trainings will be held on an annual basis. 16 police trainers (8 men and 8 women) from 11 countries gathered for the training to increase their skills of delivering training on hate crimes, to promote TAHCLE in their respective countries, and to train more trainers for the core group of TAHCLE trainers who could then deliver TAHCLE along with ODIHR staff in interested participating States. From 28-30 October, ODIHR representatives conducted meetings with local officials and civil society organizations as part of a needs assessment visit in Valencia, Spain, following the invitation of the Valencia local police. After the visit, ODIHR and the Valencia local police finalized provisions of the MoU to implement TAHCLE, which is expected to be signed in early 2016. Additionally, the Turkish National Police Academy invited ODIHR to conduct a needs assessment prior to the implementation of TAHCLE. In November 2015, ODIHR conducted a series of meetings with government officials and civil society organizations to understand the scope and the nature of bias-motivated violence. ODIHR also negotiated the modalities of TAHCLE implementation in Turkey in 2016, and finalized the draft MoU with the Turkish National Police Academy. ODIHR also provided legislative assistance to Poland by analysing proposed draft amendments to the Criminal Code pertaining to crimes motivated by bias9. 9 OSCE/ODIHR Opinion on the Draft Amendments to Certain Provisions of the Criminal Code of Poland, 3 December 2015, available at http://www.legislationline. org/documents/id/19893.