Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer persons in the Western Balkans are often exposed to physical, verbal or psychological violence, and research shows that many of such cases are never reported to the police. The reasons for this that they most commonly suggest are fear or mistrust in institutions due to inadequate and inappropriate treatment.
In the same context, in Albania the Horizontal Facility II programme is also aiming to encourage a more proactive role of the Albanian State Police to ensure that the rights of vulnerable groups are respected. To assist them in this process, important stakeholders in the field of anti-discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes including the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination, Aleanca LGBT, Pink Embassy, Streha LGBT and Open Mind spectrum Albania organised a set of capacity-building meetings with key representatives of the State Police in Albania, to discuss the efforts and related initiatives in the fight against hate speech and hate crimes against the LGBTI community. During the meetings taking place in the police stations of the main districts in Tirana, Durrës, Elbasan, Korçë, Fier, Vlorë and Gjirokastër, high chiefs and deputy chiefs of crime, together with police officers in charge of such crimes, discussed and shared their experience, obstacles and success stories in their efforts to fight hate speech and hate crimes.
In Montenegro with the support of the programme and in co-operation with the Ministry of Interior and local civil society organisations, cascade trainings for police officers on the topic "Fight against hate crimes and the rights of LGBTI people" were conducted. They were focused on acquainting police officers with all the specifics of endangering the rights of LGBTI people, the characteristic situations in which these rights are violated, and the basic principles of the police in dealing with victims of homophobic violence and discrimination.
Another important intervention in the field of fighting hate speech and discrimination for the LGBTI community, is the recently established "Clinic of international and European human rights law" with the participation of students from all law faculties in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The topic of this year's Clinic is "International and European law with regard to the rights of LGBTI people” and as part of it, an online course of the Council of Europe's Human Rights Education Program for Lawyers on combating racism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia will be held.
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