On 24 and 25 May 2021, the regional project “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crime in the Eastern Partnership” organised two training sessions offline, for 30 civil servants working in the relevant ministries and institutions, and in the Ministry of Justice, on combating hate speech. The two sessions were organised with the co-operation of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia.
The two sessions included activities on international standards and definitions on hate speech, analysis of constituent elements of hate speech and clarification of how to assess a case, the need to fight hate speech and the obligations of public officials in relation to not spreading hate speech, and the national legislation and practice of combating hate speech.
These sessions are part of a series of activities of the project aiming to improve the national responses to hate speech, which was identified by national beneficiaries as a central challenge. Together with these trainings, specific trainings for prosecutors and judges are being implemented, as well as educational and awareness raising resources on hate speech are being produced.
The activities were organised in the framework of the regional project “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crime in the Eastern Partnership”, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance II Programme.
