Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Civil society has a key role in fostering stability, security and respect for human rights. The ODIHR has developed a programme to build the capacity of civil society representatives involved in combating hate manifestations and promoting tolerance, as well as to enhance co-operation with participating States in implementing OSCE commitments.

Outreach to civil society

OSCE meetings, conferences and roundtables provide the opportunity for representatives to discuss particular issues, as well as more broadly the implementation of commitments by participating States.

Since 2006, the ODIHR has been facilitating an ongoing dialogue among civil society representatives and with participating States. Ahead of major OSCE conferences on tolerance issues, it organizes civil society preparatory meetings. These meetings allow for discussion and exchange of best practices, but also support the development and consolidation of common recommendations to participating States, OSCE institutions and civil society to be presented at the related conference.

The ODIHR also supports the development of existing civil society networks active throughout the OSCE region (for example: UNITED for intercultural action, International Network Against Cyber Hate) and encourages the creation of coalitions on issues related to its mandate.

Capacity-building

Another key priority is to provide civil society with tools for developing their capacity to prevent and to respond to violent manifestations of hate. The ODIHR's work here focuses on enhancing the capacity, skills and knowledge of civil society in areas such as monitoring, reporting, raising the awareness, providing assistance to victims, conducting advocacy work and building coalitions. In 2007 the ODIHR will finalize a resource guide and implement a training programme for NGOs, followed by support to the design and implementation of small-scale projects.

Assistance to participating States

The lack of appropriate responses to hate incidents by local authorities, the absence of condemnation by local and regional politicians, and inappropriate reporting by the media can reinforce the perception on the part of communities and minorities that their concerns are not being properly addressed. The ODIHR assists with the establishment of consultation mechanisms on a local, regional and national level to address hate-motivated violence.

The ODIHR offers assistance to OSCE participating States wishing to develop sustainable mechanisms of co-operation among local stakeholders (such as public authorities, community leaders, NGOs and the media) in order to address the needs of targeted communities.

Thematic issues

Working closely with civil society representatives involved in the monitoring violent manifestations of intolerance, the ODIHR's programme also pays particular attention to:

• hate on the Internet, monitoring and providing support to organizations working on this field;
• the violent manifestations of intolerance targeting human rights defenders working on tolerance and non-discrimination issues;
• the role of youth not only as victims and perpetrators of hate crimes but also as agents of change.