National Security Institutions and the Jewish Community in Latvia: Raising Awareness and Building Effective Communication

Meeting

Date:: 17 September 2021
Location:: Online (CEST time zone)
Organized by:: the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the World Jewish Congress and the European Commission Coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life
Source:: OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Fields of work:: Tolerance and non-discrimination

The event is designed to raise awareness among law enforcement officials about Jewish history and culture in Latvia. It also aims to lead to a greater understanding of the contemporary security challenges facing the Jewish community, such as specific challenges stemming from anti-Semitic conspiracy theories or anti-Semitic bias. Furthermore, the event will facilitate effective and meaningful communication between representatives of the Jewish community and law enforcement units across Latvia.

Participants

The meeting will gather representatives from the:

Latvian Council of Jewish Communities
Museum “Jews in Latvia”
Ministry of the Interior
Police

Background

The OSCE’s 2014 Basel Ministerial Council Declaration called upon OSCE participating States to “increase efforts to implement existing OSCE commitments related to monitoring hate crimes and collecting relevant data, including motivated by anti-Semitism.” The Declaration also called on ODIHR to support participating States in their efforts to “facilitate co-operation between governmental officials and civil society on issues related to anti-Semitism, including hate crime.”

This online event is part of ODIHR’s project ‘Turning Words into Action to Address Intolerance’ (WiA).

Factsheet