ODIHR works with Czech prosecutors to strengthen their skills in addressing hate crime

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Judicial Academy of the Czech Republic have agreed to co-operate in enhancing the ability of prosecutors to recognize and prosecute hate crimes in the country, ODIHR and Czech officials announced on 15 April 2019.

“Prosecutors play a key role in addressing hate crimes, as they bring hate crime cases before national courts and make sure that the fact a crime is based on bias is reflected adequately in indictments,” said ODIHR Director Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir. “In so doing, they ultimately build the confidence of hate crime victims towards the justice system. ODIHR’s Prosecutors and Hate Crimes Training (PAHCT) programme will help build prosecutors’ skills to face this challenge.”

Pavel Zeman, the Czech Republic's Prosecutor General, said: “The Czech criminal justice system has a crucial role in countering the general rise of intolerance, one of the main challenges facing us today. Effective prosecution makes perpetrators of hate crimes understand that their actions will never be tolerated in a society based on the values of dignity of each individual and equality of all.”

PAHCT was created in 2014 and has been implemented in four OSCE participating States, so far, with a number of others in discussions to follow suit. The training is fully tailored to the local needs. It is based on a cascade model, which involves the delivery of a train-the-trainer session and consequent training of a pre-defined target group of prosecutors. The agreement to implement the programme in the Czech Republic follows an awareness-raising seminar co-organized by ODIHR and the country’s Government Agent for Human Rights in December 2018.