Partners and beneficiaries of the action on Advancing the Protection from Discrimination in Albania valued the contribution of this co-operation initiative of the European Union and Council of Europe, that aims to bring forward the effects of the reforms in the field of anti-discrimination and combating hate speech in Albania. During its Steering Committee meeting, representatives from equality bodies, public authorities and civil society organisations had the opportunity to take stoke of the achieved progress and discussed key steps to be taken jointly, in the efforts to improve protection of minorities and other vulnerable groups in Albania, from discrimination and hate speech/hate crimes, in line with the European standards.

The effective support provided by the action in particular through awareness raising initiatives focusing on the fight against discrimination and promoting diversity, such as the support for the IDAHOT week in Albania organised in close co-operation with equality bodies and civil society organisations, was highlighted by the participants.

In addition, the assistance provided to the Committee on National Minorities in exchanging best European practices in the field of minority protection was emphasised during the meeting as very efficient. Representatives from the Albanian State Police and School of Magistrates underlined the benefits of the HELP course on Hate Crimes which was organised with the support of the action for 20 representatives. They are in the front line of protection from hate crimes in Albania.

During the meeting, participants engaged in interesting discussions on concrete ways how to strengthen effectiveness of anti-discrimination initiatives through inter-institutional co-operation and thematic awareness raising initiatives to be launched within the scope of the action. In this context, the meeting served as a platform for exchanging challenges and best practices among public institutions, equality bodies and CSOs in order to identify and co-ordinate between key actors in the field, joint and individual initiatives based on priorities in the field of anti-discrimination.

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This event was organised in the framework of the joint action of the European Union and the Council of Europe Advancing the protection from discrimination in Albania, part of the Horizontal Facility programme.