ODIHR supports inter-agency co-operation on addressing hate crime in Greece

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) facilitated the signing of an inter-agency protocol on addressing hate crime at an event on 6 June 2018 in Athens. It was organized in co-operation with the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights of Greece. The document outlines obligations of various state institutions and other stakeholders, providing a legal basis for a co-ordinated effort to be launched against hate crimes in the country.

The ceremony was attended by the President of the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court Prosecutor, the Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights Department, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Migration Policy, the Alt. Minister of Interior, the Director General of the National School of Judges and Vice-President of the Supreme Court. Representatives of the Racist Violence Recording Network and the Greek National Point of Contact for OSCE/ODIHR on Racist Crimes for Greece also participated.

Both the ceremony and the workshop that followed were held as part of ODIHR’s project Building a Comprehensive Criminal Justice Response to Hate Crime, with the aim of presenting the project’s achievements in Greece. Another objective of the event was to gather feedback from relevant stakeholders, including representatives of civil society, the national administration and international organizations working on hate crime-related matters in Greece. 

“ODIHR’s work in Greece focuses on three major elements: development of a national, inter-agency protocol on activities and policies to be implemented by relevant authorities and civil society to address hate crime; improving the database of hate crimes; and training prosecutors to enhance their ability to address hate crime. All of these activities form a comprehensive approach to hate crime that ODIHR is developing through this project,” said Cristina Finch, Head of the Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department at ODIHR.

“The project, implemented in co-operation with ODIHR, demonstrates our determination to address hate crime by taking a comprehensive approach. All actors involved need to be alert and work in a co-ordinated manner to achieve this goal,” said Maria Giannakaki, Secretary General for Human Rights of the Greek Ministry of Justice.  

The lessons learned and best practices from Greece in drafting the inter-agency agreement will contribute to the development of a general toolkit, consisting of training packages, methodologies and guidelines on the topic of hate crime. The toolkit will become a useful resource in addressing hate crime for actors in criminal justice systems across the EU and the OSCE region.