Finland

November 2019 marked the end of a two-year project "Against Hate", funded by European Commission Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme and co-ordinated by the Ministry of Justice. Project activities were focused on developing hate crime reporting and strengthening the capacities of  police, prosecutors and judges to handle cases of hate crime and hate speech, as well as on improving support for hate crime victims. The project included training activities, including five regional training events for police officers, prosecutors and judges in May 2019. A hate crime manual for prosecutors and judges was developed, and a shadow report on reported hate crime cases was published in March 2019. In November 2019, the project released three episodes of a podcast dealing with hate crime. The project also saw the publication in March 2019 of a shadow report on victims' experiences of hate crimes, aimed at including their perspectives in discussions on the issue (https://www.riku.fi/binary/file/-/id/79/fid/2142). Unlike the report on hate crimes by the Police University College, this report drew on qualitative rather than statistical data, and focused on the experiences and needs of victims. This type of data gathering will continue in the "Facts against Hate", launched in December 2019 and co-ordinated by Ministry of Justice.