OSCE Mission to Skopje trains civil society organizations on how to better identify and report hate crimes

Some 30 members of civil society organizations participated in a two-day training event on how to improve reporting on hate crimes, which was organized by the OSCE Mission to Skopje and the OSCE’s Office for Democratisation and Human Rights in Veles on 27 May 2013.

The attendees – members of civil society organizations active in the fields of human rights protection; trial monitoring; free legal aid; assistance to victims of police abuse; and the protection of Roma rights – were trained on how to better identity, monitor and report hate crimes and hate speech. Key elements of hate crimes and the relationship to freedom of expression and freedom of religion were also discussed.

At the same event, the interactive web portal www.zlostorstvaodomraza.com was presented, which is used to document occurrences of hate crimes and hate incidents. Individuals and groups can report any concerns or incidents of hate crimes on the site, seek assistance, and use the portal as a source of information.