CEPOL - the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Training hosted a webinar organised by the Roma and Travellers Team of the Council of Europe and the Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to share various practices at European and national level for enhancing performance of law enforcement protecting the rights of Roma, Sinti and Travellers through professional training.

The webinar participants including, among other, law enforcement officials dealing with hate crime incidents or involved in community policing, were informed of these initiatives. Standards at European and national level to effectively address hate crimes have been presented, as well as human rights compliant practices in addressing racially motivated crimes.

The Council of Europe developed a Toolkit for police officers on standards relating to investigating racially motivated crimes. Based on previous training experience for law enforcement agencies, the Council of Europe and ODIHR have developed a joint training curriculum for member states to improve policy responses on the situation of Roma, Sinti and Traveller communities and to counter prejudice, negative stereotyping and discrimination from law enforcement.