Italian Police and ODIHR sign agreement on hate crime training for police

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Italian authorities signed an agreement on 29 May 2013 for training of Italian law enforcement officers in recognizing, understanding and investigating hate crimes.

The agreement to implement ODIHR’s “Training Against Hate Crimes for Law Enforcement” (TAHCLE) programme was signed by Prefect Francesco Cirillo, Deputy Director General of Public Security and Director General of the Criminal Police, and Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, the Director of ODIHR, at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, in Milan. The programme will be implemented in Italy in close co-operation with the Italian Observatory for Security against Discriminatory Acts (OSCAD).

“By joining this programme, the Department of Public Security has taken an important step forward in fighting all forms of discrimination,” said Cirillo, who is also the Head of the Italian Observatory for Security against Discriminatory Acts. “Improving law enforcement officers’ skills is indispensable in effectively preventing and combating hate crimes, which not only constitute serious violations of individual freedoms but, above all, undermine the right to security of individuals and society as a whole.”

Lenarčič commended the Italian authorities for “demonstrating the political will to transform their commitments to fight intolerance and hate-motivated crimes into action. Individual police officers are key in dealing effectively with hate crimes and our programme helps them acquire the necessary skills."

Professor Fumagalli Carulli, the Director of the Department of Law at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, welcomed the signing of the agreement, and said it was equally important that states develop adequate legal frameworks to combat discrimination and hate crime.

The TAHCLE programme was launched in 2011. It provides tailor-made training for law enforcement officers. Italy will be the fourth OSCE participating State in which the programme is implemented, following Bulgaria, Croatia and Poland.