The third Technical Project Committee meeting for the joint EU/CoE project “Combating discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes in the Republic of Moldova”  brought together key state and non-state stakeholders engaged in the equality and anti-discrimination domain. The discussion focused on reviewing the main achievements from the second year of implementation, taking note of challenges, sharing lessons learned. It also looked into the future actions and cooperation among project partners.

During the last year, 34 events were held under the project, an impressive number that underpinned several initiatives promoting equality, preventing and combating hatred, including by raising public awareness in these sectors. The project trained 717 legal professionals on hate speech and hate crime in line with European standards, including on the recommendations from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), and reached over 3,000 citizens through awareness campaigns.

As key result, existing cooperation platforms were strengthened, and new ones set up, with state actors and NGOs, ultimately contributing to better protection of vulnerable groups and individuals.

Project partners also took part in five regional events under the broader crossed-regional initiative “Promoting equality and non-discrimination: towards more resilient and inclusive societies”, which allowed them to share experiences among EU acceding countries, and improve anti-discrimination mechanisms in line with European best practices.

The meeting was co-chaired by the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova and the Council of Europe. It also involved the representatives of Equality Council, General Police Inspectorate, People’s Advocate, National Institute of Justice, Agency for Interethnic Relations, General Prosecutor’s Office, Audiovisual Council, relevant ministries, Parliamentary commissions in the field, and civil society organisations.

All partners reaffirmed their commitment to fighting discrimination, hate speech, and hate crimes, and to sustaining the progress made. They also emphasized the need for continued collaboration to better protect and support victims of discrimination, with a focus on inclusion for all.

This meeting was organised as part of the European Union and Council of Europe joint programme “Partnership for Good Governance”, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe, in the framework of the project “Combating discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes in the Republic of Moldova”.