ODIHR Director Link joins call for establishing 22 July as European Day for the Victims of Hate Crime and victim-centred approach to countering hate crimes

WARSAW, 22 July 2015 – Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), added his voice to calls for the establishment of 22 July as the European Day for the Victims of Hate Crime. The ODIHR Director stressed that efforts to counter hate crime should centre on providing support to victims.

“Hate crimes affect the security of individuals, their communities and societies as a whole. This is why I lend my voice to those calling for the establishment of 22 July as the European Day for the Victims of Hate Crime. We must send a clear message that these crimes will not be tolerated," Director Link said.

The ODIHR Director stressed that effective investigation leading to the prosecution of the perpetrators of hate crimes, where the evidence warrants, was not only vital for providing justice for the victims of such crimes, but also for increasing confidence among communities most at risk to being targets.

"State institutions must have comprehensive approaches to effectively counter these crimes. For example, police officers are most often the first contacts for victims of hate crimes. They need to be able to support and be sensitive to victims in that first encounter. This is why effective work by law enforcement agencies is vital to increasing confidence and security,” he said. “This is also why ODIHR offers specialized training to improve police officers’ skills in recognizing, understanding and investigating hate crimes.”

ODIHR launched its Training against Hate Crimes for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE) programme in 2012. To date, tens of thousands of law enforcement officials in OSCE participating States have benefitted from the instruction provided. The TAHCLE program has been implemented in Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland and Ukraine. The programme is also being implemented in Kosovo.  

TAHCLE is complemented by the Prosecutors and Hate Crimes (PAHCT) programme, which aims to improve responses to hate crimes by prosecutors.

Establishing 22 July as the European Day of Victims of Hate Crime is an initiative led by the Council of Europe, and in September 2014 the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly voted to declare the day.