Responding to hate crimes theme of OSCE seminar for prosecutors, police officers in Moldova

On 17 and 18 October 2013, the OSCE Mission to Moldova, together with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Moldova, held a two-day training seminar for prosecutors and police officers on combating hate crimes.

Prosecutors and police officers from central and southern Moldova were trained in Chisinau on 17 October, and their colleagues from northern Moldova - on the next day in Balti. All in all, some 50 people took part in the seminar. They discussed what hate crime is and how to identify it, learned about relevant international and regional framework, as well as legislation in Moldova. The participants examined hate crime cases and looked at various aspects of this complex phenomenon, including discrimination in local communities.

This seminar is part of a project aimed at strengthening the response of the Moldovan criminal justice system to hate crimes.

The OSCE Mission to Moldova initiated this seminar following last year’s roundtable meeting on Moldovan legislation on hate incidents held in June 2012 in Chisinau together with the EU High Level Policy Advice Mission to the Republic of Moldova and the UN Office of the Resident Coordinator in Moldova.