Understanding and Addressing Hate Crime: Training for Maltese Civil Society Organizations

The two-day workshop will introduce civil society organizations (CSOs) working on hate crime monitoring and victim support in Malta to ODIHR’s hate crime methodology and will explore its applicability in the national context.

Why it is important

ODIHR is mandated to support OSCE participating States and CSOs in their efforts to address all forms of intolerance and discrimination, including hate crime. In particular, OSCE commitments related to hate crimes include: 

• strengthening legislation;
• collecting reliable data;
• building the capacity of actors in criminal justice systems;
• encouraging victims to report;
• supporting victims of hate crimes;
• assisting civil society; and
• considering drawing on assistance programs developed by ODIHR in relevant areas.

Since 2006, ODIHR has published statistics and information on hate crimes and incidents, national developments, initiatives to counter hate crime and relevant legislation in all OSCE participating States. 

Programme

On the first day, participants will discuss intolerance and discrimination in Malta, review the OSCE’s concept of hate crime, including bias indicators, explore the relevant international and national human rights legal frameworks, and learn about ODIHR’s Annual Hate Crime Report. On the second day, participants will discuss their efforts with respect to monitoring, reporting and addressing hate crimes, share challenges and good practices in the recording and reporting of hate crimes, work through case studies to apply what they have learned, and receive an introduction to ODIHR’s practical guide Coalition Building for Tolerance and Non-Discrimination. Additionally, participants will assess the potential of, and discuss their interest in, subsequent coalition building training for Maltese stakeholders.

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

Registration

If you represent a Maltese CSO focusing on the aforementioned areas of work and are interested in participation, please contact Agnieszka Kasztalska at agnieszka.kasztalska@odihr.pl no later than Tuesday, 2 November 2021.