Inclusion et anti-discrimination

The Council of Europe, in partnership with the General Police Inspectorate of the Republic of Moldova, conducted a series of training sessions for 41 police officers from the southern region of the country. The aim was to enhance their capacity to effectively prevent and investigate hate crimes in accordance with European standards.

The training focused on analysing prominent bias-motivated offenses driven by prejudice against race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other factors that have occurred in the country.  Law enforcement specialists who worked on these cases shared their experiences and expertise. These crimes harm the immediate victims but also causing chilling effect to entire communities, fostering fear, division, and unrest.

Participants discussed the dangers of hate speech and incitement to violence or discrimination. Regardless of whether expressed through graffiti or social media, such hatred poses a risk of escalating into more severe forms of bias-motivated violence. Prompt and professional intervention by law enforcement and legal institutions is essential to prevent and combat this phenomenon and its destructive consequences.

The training sessions benefited from the insights of three civil society organizations: GENDERDOC-M Information Center, platform BangBang and Jewish Community of Moldova which are closely monitor emerging trends of hatred and relating cases. The training sessions raised the knowledge of police officers to identify and investigate hate crimes, contributing to efficient processing of cases, ensuring justice for victims and deterring future offenses.

Since 2021, under the Council of Europe's "Enhancing Diversity and Equality in the Republic of Moldova" project, over 300 police officers have completed these two-day peer-to-peer training sessions.

The activities are part of the Council of Europe project ”Enhancing diversity and equality in the Republic of Moldova”,  implemented in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova for 2021-2024 and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Council of Europe project ’’Promoting non-discrimination in the Republic of Moldova.