Speech by the director of the SOVA Center at the opening of the OSCE police training program

Dear Mr Chairman, dear seminar attendees!

I am speaking as a representative of a non-governmental organizations operating in only one country, in Russia. Maybe mine thus my horizons are not wide enough, but since I have been asked here speak, I must say why I myself thought it was right.

My country, unfortunately, has declined in the last a decade of infamous glory for a country with a very high crime rate hate. Concern about this has been expressed more than once, including OSCE events. But first of all, this problem worries, of course, itself Russian society. The sane citizens of our country cannot fail to see threat in this wave of violence, no matter what they themselves think about the problems that this wave of violence is generated.

But I want to say that my country, if we speak about the problem of hate crimes, could become not only an example of what should be avoided by any society, but also an example of how a society can deal with even such a neglected and large-scale problem. The Crime Problem hatred is still very sharp, but thanks to the decisive revitalization of law enforcement agencies, we now see encouraging dynamics. Yes, the number of victims of hate crimes is still numbered in the hundreds even according to the most modest estimates. But the number of murders motivated by racial and similar hatred, nevertheless, according to our data, declines sharply, from 116 in 2008 to 38 in 2010. And this no wonder: at the same time, the number of people convicted of violent hate crimes. In 2010 for such 316 people were convicted of the crime, twice as many as a year earlier. Undoubtedly, the creation in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of special department for combating extremism. Although its functions excessively wide, and the training and motivation of employees is far from always height, but specialization immediately paid off.

Today we see that the police and the Investigative committee effectively investigate crimes, the investigation and the prosecutor's office present legally competent accusations and can prove them in court, including before trial by jury, and the judges make adequate sentences. Of course it's still far away not always so, and I could make many criticisms, but it's already strange remember how just six or seven years ago, many said that our the law enforcement system is simply unable to cope with such a non-trivial task as the prosecution of hate crimes. Yes, to be honest, myself the term "hate crime", now firmly rooted in our criminal law, then few people used it.

I am talking about this because the events of recent years in Russia seem to me to be an inspiring example of how not so and complex measures to focus the attention of the law enforcement system on the problem Hate crimes produce relatively quick, tangible results.

But at the very beginning, I said that with the problem not only the state must fight, and even more so not only the police, but also society as a whole. Now I mean not a broad problem of countering racism and discrimination. It is clear that these serious problems cannot by themselves to be allowed by police methods. But even if we are talking about criminal activities of individual racists or entire groups, specifically oriented towards committing hate crimes, then there are significant space for interaction between the police and civil society.

This interaction can develop along several directions.

First, the monitoring of hate crimes and activities of groups focused on such crimes are carried out, or must conduct, and the police bodies specializing in this, and specializing on this non-governmental organization. Here cooperation is both possible and necessary.

Secondly, every country has its own set of the most vulnerable groups, primarily racial, ethnic and religious, but not only. There are usually non-governmental organizations that help these groups or speaking on their behalf. These organizations can help police better deal with the most common types of crimes hate. It is also important to establish trust between representatives of vulnerable groups and police. Often this trust is at a rather low level and special efforts are required to restore it.

Third, dealing with hate crimes should also include comprehensive assistance to their victims. Of course the state has certain responsibilities in this sense, but it is also very important to develop activity of non-governmental organizations in this area. And here such NGOs they are in great need of information and other assistance from the police.

Of course, cooperation in practice faces challenges. very different problems. Many of them are rooted in flaws non-governmental organizations. For example, some of them have a vague understanding of the very concept of hate crimes and interpret this concept like any attack on a member of the social group they protect. Eat also cases where NGOs treat the police with such distrust that they are completely refuse to cooperate with her. But no less problems arise from the side police.

The police are even more likely to distrust non-governmental organizations, sees no point in working with them. Sometimes it can be political motivated. But more often the prevalence of the same discriminatory prejudice among police officers. It's not just that the police may discriminate against the victim, they may also discriminate against perpetrator, perceiving him not as an individual or a member of a particular grouping, but as a "representative" of some broad ethnic, religious and etc. community. And the NGO activists themselves, if they come from some subcultural or minority environment, do not inspire confidence.

In terms of cooperation between NGOs and the police training is necessary for both parties - including in order to realize the mutual usefulness, and to learn general approaches to hate crimes. Trainings for NGOs organized by the OSCE have taken place in recent years in a number of countries, and now it is necessary to intensify training work with the police. non-governmental organizations involved in one way or another with the topic of hate crimes, very much interested in it.

In particular, it is important to us that the police lead the most accurate record of crimes for which there is only suspicion, that they are hate crimes, from a very early stage investigation. Then it will be more efficient to compare monitoring conducted by NGOs and the police. And most importantly, then the investigations themselves will also become more effective.

It is better that there are divisions in the police, specialized in hate crimes. But some minimal training in this area, for obvious reasons, is needed for everyone police officers.

It is important to us that the police cooperate with the widest possible range of NGOs, including specialized organizations, for example, working with certain minorities or organizing help for or other groups of victims of discriminatory treatment, including crimes hate. The “one social group – one NGO” approach is often suggested from considerations of bureaucratic simplicity, but it is clearly not the most effective. World non-governmental organizations is pluralistic and changeable, so that the police has meaning to cooperate with all who are capable of cooperation.

Finally, often victims of hate crimes complain of inattentive, if not worse, treatment by the police. Of course it is unacceptable.

Police training should cover all these Aspects. And it seems that the participation of non-governmental organizations in planning and conducting these trainings could be very helpful. NGOs with experience working with certain social groups or leading monitoring, could also share their methodology and practice for resolving ambiguous situations. Victim assistance NGOs could also advise the police on certain aspects of their work. Finally, in the process of such training could overcome the accumulated negative stereotypes in the mutual perception of the police and non-governmental organizations, and also establish contacts necessary for further cooperation.

In conclusion, it remains to be hoped that as many states as possible will take part in the new program. And first of all this makes sense for those countries that not only deal with crime hatred - all countries face them - but they have already realized how significant this problem and how great are the difficulties in solving it.