prijava
SARAJEVO, September 27 (FENA) - A one-day workshop on "Investigating hate crimes" is being held today in Sarajevo, attended by about 40 police officers from BiH law enforcement agencies.
The workshop is being conducted as part of the project "Protecting Human Rights: Strengthening the Capacity of Police to Combat Violence against LGBTI Persons," supported by the US Embassy.
The aim of the workshop is to increase the sensitivity of the police in dealing with LGBTI persons, to recognize hate crimes, and to investigate and prove them in a timely manner.
Strengthening the capacity of police to combat violence against LGBTI persons will increase confidence in police structures and result in higher percentage of reporting crimes, and successful investigations and prosecution of offenses that will also have an impact on potential perpetrators.
Hate crimes send a strong message of intolerance and cause great fear in the targeted communities, which is why it is important for the state to respond immediately.
The lecturers, experts in the field come from the Policewomen Network Association, the Faculty of Criminology, and Security Studies and the Sarajevo Open Center.
In their opening statements, it was emphasized that there is a high degree of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in BiH, caused largely by lack of information and knowledge, causing the LGBTI persons to be constantly discriminated against and threatened with endangering their basic human rights. Since hate crimes tend to escalate, timely police response is of crucial importance.
(FENA) S. R.
