On 24-25 June, the Regional Conference "Anti-Roma Hate Crimes as a Challenge for the National Police Forces" took place in the premises of the Odessa State University of Internal Affairs.
The conference discussed issues of adequate police response to hate crimes in accordance with Council of Europe standards. The objectives included hate crime prevention strategies (including community policing and mediation), workshops on the identification and investigation of hate crimes and fighting hate crime prosecution before national courts and the European Court of Human Rights.
The event was attended by Hallvard Gorseth, Head of the Council of Europe Anti-Discrimination Department, General Jana Maskarova, First Vice President of the Police Force of the Slovak Republic, Oleg Matveyetsov, Head of Division for Interaction with State Authorities and Head of the Public Office for Monitoring Human Rights of the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, Vitalii Svichynskyi, Deputy Head of the Odessa Regional State Administration and Aurora Ailincai, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Roma and Travellers Division, as well as more than one hundred police officers and law enforcement officials from the Republic of Moldova, Slovakia and Ukraine and police trainers and international experts from Greece, the Netherlands, Romania, Serbia, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Hallvard Gorseth, Head of the Council of Europe Anti-Discrimination Department, stressed that “Roma are at daily risk of hate crime attacks”, which is why the Council of Europe is highly valuing the work of police officers in the field who guarantee that Council of Europe standards on human rights and anti-discrimination are adhered on the grounds. “We rely on police officers like you that human rights are abided and promoted, or in other words: that they reach the people.”, Mr Gorseth concluded.
Ivan Katerynchuk, rector of Odessa State University of Internal Affairs and host of the conference, addressed the participants with welcome remarks. "Changing the attitude towards vulnerable groups and establishing an atmosphere of tolerance is one of the priorities of the National Police of Ukraine. Police decisions are of utmost importance to eradicate hate crimes, both from the side of society and from the National Police. There is a clear problem with anti-Roma hate crime in Ukraine, which requires special attention from law-enforcement agencies", he said.
General Jana Maskarova, First Vice President of the Slovak Police Force, focused on the value of good cooperation between all state authorities to ensure that Roma citizens are protected. General Maskarova stressed: “It is of great importance to us to have good relations between the police and minorities”.
Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Kyiv, expressed her expectations that “this event will help to overcome the challenges faced by the police in detecting and properly investigating crimes against Roma in Moldova, Slovakia and Ukraine, in particular after numerous attacks against Roma in different cities of Ukraine in 2018. Today's conference complements the activities carried out by the CoE in Ukraine within the framework of the CoE Action Plan for Ukraine for 2018-2021, primarily within the framework of the Council of Europe project "Protection of the rights of national minorities, including Roma and minority languages".
Apart from addressing issues on the correct identification and investigation of anti-Roma hate crime, the workshop sessions also shed light to topics as victim support, interview methods and methods to build trust between Roma communities and the police.
Moreover, a main component of the conference was the first time ever international commemoration of the victims of the 2018 series of hate crime attacks in Ukraine, which was held on the anniversary of its most brutal attack. During this attack in the night of 23 to 24 June 2018 nearby the City of Lviv, David Popp, a young Roma citizen was murdered. Hallvard Gorseth, together with the attorney of the victim family Mykola Urchenko and the Head of the Coalition of Roma NGOs in Ukraine Volodymyr Kondur, lighted candles in memory of David Popp and other victims of hate crime.
