Enhancing victim protection and support
Repairing the harm caused by hate crime requires a comprehensive national response that takes a victim-centred approach, placing a victim’s needs and rights at the heart of any action. Visit the page on ODIHR’s mandate to learn about OSCE participating States’ commitments to support victims of hate crime.
Through its two-year EStAR project (Enhancing Stakeholder Awareness and Resources for Hate Crime Victim Support), ODIHR supported participating States and civil society in creating the structures, collaboration mechanisms and tools needed to ensure that victims of hate crimes are protected, have full access to justice and receive specialist support. The project's guidance and practical resources enable criminal justice professionals and victim support practitioners to meaningfully protect, engage with and assist victims of hate crime. All resources can be accessed via the links below.
Building on the success of the EStAR project, ODIHR continues to co-ordinate a network of experts - the Hate Crime Victim Support Network. Members of the Network collect and share good practices in the field, engage in ODIHR events and initiatives, and maintain open communication channels to explore how ODIHR’s tools and resources can further assist states in strengthening their policies, systems and structures on hate crime victim support. Importantly, participants of the Network representing EU Member States take part in the activities of the ODIHR-led Working group on hate crime victim support under the EU High Level Group on combating hate speech and hate crime.
To meet the experts and learn more, watch the videos below:
EStAR Resources
1. Enhancing understanding and responding to victims’ needs:
- Understanding the Needs of Hate Crime Victims
- Model Guidance on Individual Needs Assessments of Hate Crime Victims
- Compendium: Practices on Structural Frameworks for Individual Needs Assessment (INA) of Hate Crime Victims and Referrals
2. Improving the status of hate crime victims in the criminal justice system:
- Hate Crime Victims in the Criminal Justice System: A Practical Guide
- Webinar on Restorative Justice Solutions for Hate Crime
- Webinar on Participation of Hate Crime Victims in Criminal Proceedings
3. Strengthening the ability of national criminal justice system agencies to ensure sensitive and respectful treatment of hate crime victims:
- Model Guidance on Sensitive and Respectful Treatment of Hate Crime Victims in the Criminal Justice System
- Sensitive and Respectful Treatment of Hate Crime Victims: Training Course for Criminal Justice Professionals
4. Assisting States to identify strengths and gaps in their national systems for hate crime victim support in order to enhance protection and support:
- Diagnostic Tool for Assessing National Hate Crime Victim Support Systems
- Digital Diagnostic Tool to Assess National Hate Crime Victim Support Systems
- The State of Support Structures and Specialist Services for Hate Crime Victims: Baseline Report
5. Promoting effective collaboration between victim support organizations and the criminal justice system:
- Structural Arrangements for Hate Crime Victim Support: Policy Brief
- Compendium: CSO-Government Collaboration Models
6. Providing guidance to support providers to develop and strengthen services for victims of hate crime: