The project objective is to prevent and eradicate racism, xenophobia and other forms and manifestations of intolerance, in particular hate crimes and hate speech. The sub-objectives of the project are to ensure effective cooperation between government and law enforcement institutions to effectively address hate crimes and hate speech related to racism, xenophobia, homophobia and other forms of intolerance, as well as more effective application of hate crime and hate speech legislation to ensure better protection of victims of hate crimes.
The project is being implemented in cooperation with the Faculty of Law of the University of Latvia, the Society Integration Foundation, the Judicial Administration, the State Police and the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Latvia.
Project activities:
- research on international obligations and standards in the field of hate crimes, the Latvian legal framework and its compliance with international requirements, analysis of Latvian case law in the field of hate crimes;
- increasing the expertise/capacity of project partners' staff on how to improve public authorities' responses to racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance at the national, regional and local levels;
- non-formal education and training for identifying, preventing and combating discrimination, hate speech, racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance for members of the legal profession (judges, lawyers, prosecutors); law enforcement officers (state and municipal police officers); and employees of the Public Integration Foundation;
- international conference on identifying, preventing and combating discrimination, including case law.
The project’s duration is 24 months (01.02.2021-31.01.2023) and the total funding is € 171,943.65, of which the European Commission covers 80% or € 137,554.91.