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From the 20-21 June 2018 in Warsaw (Poland) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) organized the Activist Forum on Preventing and Responding to Hate Crimes as part of its multi-year, German-funded project “Turning Words into Action to address anti-Semitism”. Recognizing the vital role that civil society in general, and activists in particular, play in confronting anti-Semitism, discrimination and intolerance, ODIHR has embarked on an effort to support the development of coalitions that will aim to jointly address anti-Semitism, intolerance and discrimination.

Efforts to address anti-Semitism, discrimination and intolerance through coalition-building and to create networks and coalitions to better report on hate incidents were the focus of this forum. “The goal of this event is two-fold: to bring civil society together to help build strong and diverse coalitions to address intolerance and discrimination; and to gather input on how to improve hate crime data collection and reporting,” said Cristina Finch, Head of ODIHR’s Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department.

Through a series of panel discussions and interactive group-work sessions, activists working on preventing and reporting hate crimes explored coalition- and network-building methods and common issues and concerns, which can best be addressed by joining forces at both the national and regional levels. Presentations and discussions on the Forum had an aim to research ways in which national hate crime monitoring networks could be established in the selected countries (Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania and Serbia) to address hate crimes based on anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia, intolerance against Muslims, Christians or other religions and other bias-motivated crimes.

The event is the third in a series of workshops organized as part of the ODIHR project, Turning Words into Action to Address Anti-Semitism. The project promotes dialogue between different communities, focusing on specific topics and contexts for coalition-building. Its recommendations are intended to contribute to building more cohesive and inclusive societies for all communities in the OSCE region.

President of the Association of citizens Monitor, Doc. dr Aleksandar Ivanović, was take participation on this Forum on behalf of Monitor.