Moldova

In 2022, Moldova implemented two projects supported by the Council of Europe: 

1. A regional project on "Strengthening the access to justice through non-judiciary redress mechanisms for victims of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in Eastern Partnership countries", funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance II.
2. A national-level project on "Enhancing diversity and equality in the Republic of Moldova".

As a result of these two projects, the criminal records database was upgraded and training initiatives on hate crime were organized in 2022.
Law No.111 for the amendment of certain legal acts (Criminal Code and Contraventions Code) was passed and entered into force. New provisions related to hatred, base motives and discrimination were introduced. In particular, the phrase "social, national, racial and religious hatred" in the provisions of the Criminal Code was replaced by the phrase "bias motivation". A new article to define the term "bias motivation" was also introduced (Article 134). 

Also in 2022, eight police officers were certified by the Council of Europe as hate crime trainers. Between July and September, the trainers held information sessions on "Discrimination and hate crime" in 42 regional police inspectorates, the National Public Security Inspectorate, the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation and the Police Directorate of Chisinau, attended by about 2,200 police officers. In addition, specialized courses on hate crimes were organized for 50 criminal investigation officers from the Central region of Moldova.

Throughout the year, training efforts on hate crimes organized by the National Justice Institute trained 15 prosecution candidates and 10 judicial candidates as part of their initial training, as well as 124 judicial system professionals as part of their continuous training programmes.