Training prosecutors

Participating States should consider further measures to ensure that magistrates and prosecutors are well equipped to prevent and respond effectively to hate crimes. Measures could include:

• Ensuring co-operation, where appropriate, at the national and international levels, including with relevant international bodies and between police forces, to combat violent organized hate crime, in line with Decision 9/09 of the OSCE Ministerial Council;
• Conducting awareness-raising and education efforts, particularly with law-enforcement authorities, directed towards communities and civil society groups that assist victims of hate crimes, in line with Decision 9/09 of the OSCE Ministerial Council;
• Encouraging systems of reporting by third parties for victims who are unable or unwilling to report hate crimes directly to police and criminal-justice agencies;
• Introducing or further developing professional training and capacity-building activities for law-enforcement, prosecution and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes, including training and resources to enable law-enforcement officers to identify, investigate and register bias motives, and ensuring that prosecutors have been trained on how to present evidence of bias motivation;
• Building better relationships between criminal-justice agencies and victim groups, with a view to encouraging victims to report hate crimes and witnesses to contribute to solving and prosecuting hate crimes;
• Diversifying membership of law-enforcement and prosecution agencies, so as to increase representation of minority groups; and
• Drawing on resources developed by ODIHR in the area of education, training and awareness-raising to ensure a comprehensive approach to tackling hate crime.