TOLERANCE AND NON-DISCRIMINATION
ODIHR also delivered two workshops for government officials — in Skopje on 21 O
ctober
and Prishtinë/Priština on 19 and 20 May — in
co-operation with OSCE field operations, to
strengthen their data collection mechanisms on
hate crimes.
As part of its collaboration with other international
organizations, ODIHR organized an expert round
table in November 2014 with representatives of FRA,
the UNHCR and ECRI. Participants shared updates
about activities on hate crime and discussed how
their organizations understand hate crime and hate
speech concepts. This event followed the Office’s
annual training of trainers on hate crime for staff
from OSCE field operations and other international
organizations, attended by 17 participants.
International organizations also contribute annually to ODIHR’s hate crime reporting website, which
includes information from OSCE field operations,
the UNHCR and the International Organization for
Migration.
The third pillar of ODIHR’s hate crime reporting
practice consists of civil society contributions. For
the latest update of its hate crime reporting website,
ODIHR received information from 109 civil society organizations and groups covering incidents in
45 countries. In addition to the close collaboration
that took place during the analysis of data submitted
covering 2013 in the hate crime reporting website,
ODIHR held several training events for civil society,
as discussed below.
As part of these activities, ODIHR reviews legislation to address discrimination and hate crime on the
request of participating States. These legal reviews
can help ensure that laws are in line with OSCE
commitments and other international standards,
identifying areas for improvement and potential issues. Hate Crime Laws – A Practical Guide outlines
ODIHR’s approach to these legislative reviews.
Countering Hate Crime
Based in commitments made by participating States,
ODIHR promotes a comprehensive approach to
hate crime, which brings together government and
civil society to develop the best response to hate
crimes, based on the local reality.
54
ODIHR Annual Report 2014
In addition to events organized by the Office,
ODIHR staff actively participated in international conferences, webinars and symposiums. Taking
place in Brussels, Budapest, Madrid, Riga, Rome,
Skopje, Stockholm, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Vilnius and
Warsaw, these raised the awareness of authorities,
criminal-justice officials and non-governmental organizations to the OSCE approach to addressing
hate crime.
Working with Police and Prosecutors
ODIHR has established its expertise in training
law-enforcement officials in perceiving and responding to hate crimes. The Training Against Hate
Crime for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE) programme
is based on the premise that dealing effectively with
hate crimes involves police as proactive agents of
change. It draws on the OSCE participating States’
experiences in confronting hate crimes and the
achievements of law-enforcement agencies in addressing the issue.
In Italy, ODIHR delivered workshops on hate crime
to 160 national police and Carabinieri officers from
7 to 11 February, as well as TAHCLE training of trainers for 33 national police and Carabinieri instructors
from 2 to 4 July. In Montenegro on 24 and 25 April,
ODIHR conducted a workshop for senior police officials and commanders as follow-up to TAHCLE
implementation in 2013.
In 2014, interest in the programme significantly
increased, demonstrated by the signing of agreements to implement TAHCLE in Latvia and the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In addition,
the Office continued its co-operation with the Association of European Police Colleges by delivering
training of trainers that included participants from
13 OSCE participating States.
ODIHR strengthened its range of tools to counter
hate crime by bringing together existing publications, workshops and training into a new
comprehensive training programme for prosecutors. The Prosecutors and Hate Crime Training
(PAHCT) programme was created to help prosecutors build solid hate crime cases and complements
existing efforts to train law-enforcement personnel.
Over the course of 2014, ODIHR trained 76 prosecutors on how to recognize bias elements in hate
crimes. This included a training seminar in Thessaloniki, on 30 and 31 October and involving over
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