Introduction
The project Increasing the capacity of law enforcement authorities to tackle racist crime, hate crime and homophobic crime through experiential learning is funed by the European Commission DG Justice and is implemented by the Centre for European Constitutional Law – Themistokles and Dimitris Tsatsos Foundation, in collaboration with Antigone, the Greek Council for Refugees, COSPE, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Art. 1.
The overall objective of the project is to improve responses to racist, hate and related crime in Greece, Hungary and Italy through an innovative experiential learning approach that addresses the specific needs of law enforcement authorities. This goes beyond traditional approaches to capacity building, by placing emphasis on the ‘lived experience’ of crime and a learning process where knowledge is generated through experience. The project is based on the assumption that an experiential understanding of complex forms of crime can help improve the responses of law enforcement authorities.
The project addresses the main institutional actors involved in addressing hate crime: law enforcement officers; judges and prosecutors and legal practitioners.
The seminars aim: a) to transfer to judges and prosecutors, law enforcement officers and legal practitioners knowledge and skills for detecting and handling racist crime, hate and homophobic crime through experiential training modules and training material, freely replicable upon completion of the project – a total of 90 judges and prosecutors, 90 law enforcement officers and 90 legal practitioners are to be trained, b) to promote anti-racist ethos in law enforcement bodies through a network of “champions” selected among the trainees, c) to promote networking and exchange of good practice through the network of ‘champions’, good practice manuals and model protocols for handling such crimes and d) to disseminate the knowledge and material produced through the project and make it available for further use.
For more information on the project visit:
ANTIGONE - Information and Documentation Center on Racism, Ecology, Peace and Non Violence is a non-profit organisation that was established in 1993 (
ANTIGONE’s main offices are located in Thessaloniki with its branch in Athens. ANTIGONE develops activities on anti-racism and non-discrimination, human rights, social ecology, peace and non-violent conflict resolution.
The aim of the organisation is the promotion of equal opportunities for all without any discrimination -e.g. on the basis of sex, race, national origin, social/economic/educational status, disability, age, religion etc. Through its activities that are based on solidarity and active participation, ANTIGONE targets to awareness raising and sensitisation of the society on issues of non-discrimination, human rights, ecology, non-violence and interculturality.
AGENDA
11-12 MARCH 2016
Electra Palace, Nikodimou 18, Athens 105 57
FRIDAY 11 MARCH 2016
SESSION 1
Understanding Hate Crime
9:00- 9:30: Introduction
Welcoming note
Introduction to the project and the structure of the seminar
9:30-11:00: Experiencing bias
Experiential exercise in groups and individually
Discussion
11:00-11:30: Coffee Break
SESSION 2
Identifying Hate Crime
11:30- 13:30 How to identify a hate crime
Case-study
Discussion
13:30 – 14:30 Lunch Break
14:30- 15:30 Vulnerable Groups and Sensitisation
Introduction of Good Practices for law enforcement officers
15.30-16.00: Coffee Break
16:00-17:30 Continuation of previous segment
Discussion
SATURDAY 12 MARCH 2016
SESSION 3
The role of the police in dealing with hate crime
9:30- 11:00: National and International Framework
Presentation of the national and international framework: obligations of police officers
Discussion
11:00-11:30 Coffee Break
11:30-13:00: Investigating a hate crime
Presentation by the Prosecutor – Case-study
Discussion
13:00 - 13:30: Conclusion – evaluation – applying for participation in the change agents’ training
Information
ANTIGONE - Information and Documentation Center on Racism, Ecology, Peace and Non Violence,
Ptolemaion 29Α, Postal Code 546 30, Thessaloniki, Greece
Tel.: 2310 285 688 Fax: 2310 222 503
Skype: antigone.information.centre
This program has been produced with the financial support of the Fundamental Rights & Citizenship Programme of the European Union. The contents are the sole responsibility of the Centre for European Constitutional Law, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, ART.1, the Greek Council for Refugees, Antigone and the Cooperazione per lo Sviluppo dei Paesi Emergenti and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission.