Within the framework of the Action “Strengthening the Human Rights Ombudsman to fight discrimination” and  the joint programme between the European Union and the Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey”, the Council of Europe launched its distance-learning course on Hate Crime and Hate Speech for staff members of the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The kick-off meetings took place on 8 March 2017 in Banja Luka and 9 March 2017 in Sarajevo.

The course includes modules on international standards in combating hate speech and hate crimes, including those issued by the CoE monitoring bodies and the European Court of Human Rights. The objective of the course is to strengthen the capacity of lawyers of the Ombudsperson Institution to identify and address the issues of incitement of hatred on various grounds. The course has been developed by the Council of Europe in co-operation with the OSCE ODIHR in the framework of the European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals - HELP.

The European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) supports the Council of Europe member states in implementing the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) at the national level. The HELP methodology and resources are systematically used in all Council of Europe capacity building activities on the ECHR and organised in the beneficiary countries, including within the framework of EU/CoE Joint Programmes.

The European Union/Council of Europe Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey (Horizontal Facility) is a three-year programme (May 2016 – May 2019), focusing on three themes: ensuring justice; fighting corruption, economic crime and organised crime; as well as combating discrimination and protecting the rights of vulnerable groups.

The course is available to all in English here on the HELP e-learning platform.