Starting from June 2021, the EU-Council of Europe project “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes in the Eastern Partnership countries” has been carrying out a training of multipliers for police investigators and prosecutors from Ukraine on combating hate crimes.

The training included the specific HELP course on hate crime, as well as a first phase based on increasing knowledge and understanding about hate crimes legislation and practices in Ukraine. In autumn 2021, the training will be complemented by a two-day seminar aiming at preparing participants for multiplying the newly acquired knowledge towards their colleagues police and prosecutors. 

This training course was organised as a response to the need of the Office of the Prosecutor General and the National Police of Ukraine to create a pool of competent staff that can provide police officers and prosecutors with training on the prevention and effective investigation of hate crimes in Ukraine. 

In the first phase of the training, participants developed their understanding on discrimination and in-depth work on the concepts of hate speech and hate crime and they improved their capacity for case analysis and skills to apply indicators and bias motive evaluation to each case they work on. 

Sixteen participants have so far successfully completed the webinar series, including 8 representatives of the National Police and 8 representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office. 

The educational approach of this training course is based on the need for further co-operation and mutual understanding between police investigators and prosecutors, in order to make sure the investigation of hate crimes is carried out in a coordinated manner. 

These activities are part of the regional project “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes in the Eastern Partnership”, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in the framework of the Partnership for Good Governance II.