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OSCE/ODIHR course strengthens ability of Italian law enforcement to respond to hate crime

13 September 2017
Italian law enforcement professionals participate in a training course co-organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to help improve their skills in recognizing and handling hate crime, 12 September 2017, Milan. (OSCE/Tome Shekerdjiev) Photo details

A group of 25 law-enforcement professionals from Italy’s Lombardy region improved their skills in recognizing and handling hate crime cases during a training course organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 12 and 13 September in Milan, in co-operation with the Observatory for Security against Acts of Discrimination (OSCAD) and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.

The event followed ODIHR’s Training Against Hate Crimes for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE) programme methodology and was a continuation of activities aimed at improving the response to hate crime in Italy. Participants from the State Police and Carabinieri took part in the event.

“This training is absolutely crucial for improving the knowledge and skills of police officers with respect to preventing and combating hate crime. Since 2014, the TAHCLE programme methodology has deeply informed OSCAD's training activities,” said Stefano Chirico, Deputy State Prosecutor of the State Police and TAHCLE trainer. “This course in Milan will be a further step in strengthening the ability of the Italian law-enforcement agencies to detect and face this phenomenon.” 

“With the support of ODIHR we have already trained judges and prosecutors,” said Professor Stefano Solimano, Director of the Department of Legal Sciences of the Catholic University. “In addition to this, we will also develop a training curriculum for lawyers and civil society members on providing assistance to victims of hate crime. We are convinced that this sort of comprehensive capacity-building will allow us to better deal with this crime.”

The event was held as part of the “Building a Comprehensive Criminal Justice Response to Hate Crime” project, implemented by ODIHR and its partners in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Poland. The lessons drawn from the activities carried out in the four states will constitute a toolkit applicable throughout the European Union and the entire OSCE region.