Cyprus

The Cyprus Police has appointed two members of each District Department, with experience in investigative duties, as liaison officers with the Legal Department and the Human Rights and Combating Discrimination Office of the Police. In total, there are 12 liaison officers responsible for: co-ordinating and supervising the investigation of complaints concerning incidents or cases of discrimination, racism and/or racist motives or other related hate crimes; ensuring that the Human Rights and Combating Discrimination Office of the Police is immediately informed about incidents or offences related to discrimination; and collaborating with officials of other relevant government services or civil society organizations to report and record racist incidents and to support victims of such crimes, among other measures.

The Cyprus Police has prepared a handbook entitled "Human Rights Handbook", which includes a separate chapter on combating racism, xenophobia and intolerance. The purpose of the manual is to inform and raise awareness among members of the police about human rights. The manual is uploaded on the internal portal of the police and was designed, printed and disseminated in 2022.

In July 2022, a one-day training programme was organized at the Cyprus Police Academy titled "Professional Approach of Cases of Racism and Discrimination". The aim of the programme was to train participants on handling and investigating racist offences and hate crimes. In October 2022, the Cyprus Police organized a Conference titled "The role of members of the Police in a society with respect to diversity". The aim of the conference was to raise awareness and strengthen a culture of respect for equality and diversity among participants.

A Working Group on enhancing inter-agency co-operation to address hate crime was formed. The Working Group is facilitated by ODHR and is made up of representatives of the Cyprus Police, the Ministry of Justice and Public Order of Cyprus, the Law Office of the Republic of Cyprus (Attorney General's Office), the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare of Cyprus, the Office of the Commissioner for Administration and Protection of Human Rights of Cyprus, the University of Cyprus, the CSO Hope For Children, the CSO Caritas Cyprus, and the CSO Cyprus Refugee Council. The Working Group was responsible for preparing a Memorandum of Understanding (an inter-agency protocol), signed by all members, on strengthening co-operation in the field of hate crime. The Memorandum was at the final stage of consultations when the 2022 Hate Crime Report was launched.