Sixteen judges and prosecutors from Armenia started on 27 April 2021 a training course on hate speech, organised by the PGG project “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crime in the Eastern Partnership countries” (funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe), in co-operation with the Justice Academy of the Republic of Armenia. The training course includes the translated version of the Council of Europe’s HELP course on hate speech, as well as tutored activities like case studies, analysis of national legislation, discussion on assessing cases etc. This pilot training course will be implemented in order to support legal professionals in Armenia to better grasp the concept and manifestations of hate speech, the European acquis on the topic and to become readier to tackle such cases as part of their work in Armenia.

Considering the relevance of the topic for the Armenian context, the Council of Europe carries out this training course on hate speech in Armenian during the months of April / May 2021, also to clarify the concept and its legal framework for prosecutors and judges in Armenia, preparing them to tackle the problem in their practice. At the end of the tutored course, the participants will be able to demonstrate knowledge of:

• the concept, different and links between hate speech and freedom of expression
• the impact of hate speech on victims and communities
• the effective responses to hate speech in their context.

The course will run until end of May 2021.

This activity is organised as part of the project “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in Eastern Partnership countries”, which is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.