Law enforcement’s role in combating hate crime in focus at Milan roundtable discussion

The role of judges, prosecutors and law-enforcement agencies in combating hate crimes was the focus of a roundtable discussion organized by the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan and supported by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 17 December 2012.

More than 100 participants from the police; the Carabinieri, Italy’s national military police; other law-enforcement agencies; judges; lawyers and the academic community shared their experiences and good practices on responding to and combating hate crimes.

“This discussion highlighted how important it is for all parts of the criminal-justice system to join forces and work together to prevent, respond to and combat hate crimes,” said Professor Ombretta Fumagalli Carulli, Director of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.

During the discussions, ODIHR outlined details of its Training against Hate Crimes for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE) programme. The programme builds on ODIHR’s resources and earlier training courses, with the aim of improving police skills in recognizing, understanding and investigating hate crimes.

“TAHCLE is based on the premise that dealing effectively with hate crimes involves police as proactive agents of change,” said Azra Junuzović, Deputy Head of ODIHR’s Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department. “ODIHR has extensive experience in working with police in various OSCE participating States since 2005, and TAHCLE draws on the experiences of States in confronting hate crimes.”

The discussion followed a training session for graduate students in Rome from 13 to 15 December 2012 on combating hate crimes. The workshop was organized by the Institute for International Legal Studies (ISGI), a Rome-based independent research centre, with ODIHR’s support.

These are the latest in a series of activities implemented by ODIHR in Italy on effective responses to hate crimes.