OSCE/ODIHR co-organizes train-the-trainer course to strengthen criminal justice response to hate crimes in Greece

Strengthening the ability of Greek prosecutors to address hate crimes was the focus of a train-the-trainer course organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), in co-operation with the office of the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Greece, from 1 to 3 December 2017 in Athens.

The course was held as part of ODIHR’s Building a Comprehensive Criminal Justice Response to Hate Crime project and was attended by 26 participants, of which there were 12 men and 14 women.

“Hate crimes must be properly recognized and prosecuted if they are to be tackled effectively. This requires specific skills from the prosecutors on one hand, and reliable data on the other,” said Tome Shekerdjiev, Project Manager at ODIHR. “This is why we are focusing both on providing training to prosecutors and on strengthening hate crime data collection systems in Greece.”

Supreme Court Prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou-Vassilopoulou said: “Prosecutors play a key role in shaping the criminal justice system’s response to hate crime. The added value of this course, which was customized to the needs of Greece, is that the participants will become trainers themselves. This will allow us to reach many more criminal justice officials and explain why it is in our common interest to acknowledge the threat hate crimes pose to our society.” 

Alongside the training, a working group for drafting an agreement on inter-agency co-operation to address hate crimes in Greece gathered on 1 December. The working group, which received expert support from ODIHR, consisted of representatives of governmental institutions and civil society organizations working on hate crime.

“An inter-agency agreement on countering hate crimes will allow a smooth flow of information between all the actors involved in dealing with such crimes. This is a necessity if we want to approach the problem in a sustainable manner,” said Maria Giannakaki, Secretary General for Human Rights of the Greek Ministry of Justice and Chair of the National Council against Racism and Intolerance. 

The Building a Comprehensive Criminal Justice Response to Hate Crime project is being implemented together with partners in four OSCE countries: Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Poland. It is a two-year endeavour funded by the European Commission and the United States.