Programme FRC 2013

Monday 11 November

Time Description

14.00 –

19:30

Arrival and registration

19:30

Welcome reception

Hosted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)

(Hotel Crowne Plaza Vilnius, M.k. Čiurlionio str. 84)

Tuesday 12 November

Time Description
08.30 – 09:30

Registration

Conference moderators:
                Friso Roscam Abbing, Head of Communication Department, FRA
                Saira Khan, TV presenter and host

09:30 – 10:00

Welcome

Juozas Bernatonis, Minister of Justice, Lithuania

Morten Kjaerum, Director, FRA

10:00 - 10:30

Keynote addresses

Cecilia Malmström,  European Commissioner for Home Affairs

10:30 – 11:00

Coffee break

11:00 – 12:30

Panel debate

Crimes motivated by hatred and prejudice - where are we today?

High level panel debate with policy makers and experts

Panellists:

   László Surján, Vice President, European Parliament

   Alan Shatter TD, Minister for Justice and Equality, Ireland

   Snežana Samardžić-Marković, Director General for Democracy, Council of Europe

   Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

 

Focus:

  • What is the nature of hate crime? What is the situation on the ground?
  • What are the most pressing legal as well as practical challenges to combat hate crime effectively?
12:30 - 14:00

Lunch

14:00 – 15:15

Reflections in the plenary

Different faces of hate crime

Panel debate with organisations representing victims of hate crime

Focus:

  • How does hate crime look in reality? What are the experiences of those affected?
  • What impact does it have on targeted communities and the society as a whole?
15:30 - 17:30

Working groups

  • Working group I: Making hate crime visible: strategies to build trust and encourage reporting

Chair: Christos Giakoumopoulos, Director for Human Rights, Council of Europe

Focus:

  • How can the trust of victims and witnesses in law enforcement authorities and criminal justice system be increased?
  • Which reporting mechanisms have proven to be most effective and why? What lessons can be learned from experiences in EU Member States?
  • How does cooperation between law enforcement agencies, the criminal justice system and non-governmental organisations work in practice?
  • How can monitoring of hate crime by civil society organisations and other actors be put to better use to make hate crime visible?

 

  • Working group II: Challenges of cyberhate

Chair: Marnix Auman, Head of Cyber Intelligence, European Cybercrime Centre, EUROPOL – European Police Office

Focus:

  • What legal instruments, policies and measures are in place at Member State and EU level to address cyberhate?
  • What is the role of different actors tackling cyberhate?
  • What practical measures could be implemented by governments, internet providers, civil society organisations and citizens?

 

  • Working group III: Legal instruments pertaining to hate crime in the EU

Chair: Salla Saastamoinen, Head of Unit Fundamental rights and rights of the child, DG Justice, European Commission

Focus:

  • What legal instruments are available to EU Member States to address hate crime at the EU and international levels?
  • How robust is the existing legislative framework? What steps could be taken to improve the situation?
  • What is the impact/direction of recent jurisprudence of ECHR as well as the CJEU?

 

  • Working group IV: Assistance for victims of hate crime

Chair: Paul Iganski, Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Lancaster University Law School, United Kingdom

Focus:

  • What are the needs of victims of hate crime?
  • What assistance schemes are most effective – public services, non-governmental organisations, generic or specialist victim support services, or a mixture of systems?
  • How does the legal system guarantee effective redress for victims of hate crime?

 

  • Working group V: Ensuring effective investigation and prosecution

Chair: Alinde Verhaag, Head of Case Analysis Unit, EUROJUST

Focus :

  • Recognising hate crime and uncovering the motive
  • Facilitating cross-national exchange of promising practices in relation to effective investigation and prosecution of hate crimes:
  • Protecting hate crime victims in the course of investigation and prosecution against secondary or repeat victimisation, intimidation and retaliation
19:30

Evening reception at the National Museum Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania 

Hosted by the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU

Opening by Jouzas Bernatonis, Minister of Justice, Lithuania

Welcome address by Remigijus Motuzas, Deputy Chancellor, Office of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania

Wednesday  13 November

Time Description
09:00 – 10:30

Panel debate

Effectively responding to hate crime - from legislation to practice

Panel debate and plenary discussion with policy makers and practicioners

Focus

  • How are legal obligations with regard to hate crime implemented in practice?
  • What will the Victims Directive mean for victims of hate crime?
  • The Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia: how well has it worked so far?
  • Should subsequent legislation cover the same areas or be broadened?
  • What are the advantages and risks of more encompassing legislation in this area?
10:30 – 11:00

Coffee break

11:00 - 13:00

Working groups

  • Working group I: Recording and monitoring hate crime: strategies to improve official data collection mechanism

Chair: Floriane Hohenberg, Head of Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

Focus :

  • What mechanisms of data collection are currently in place and how can they be improved?
  • What are the current gaps in data collection? What can we learn from existing promising practices in EU Member States?
  • Uncovering the dark figure of hate crime – what is the role of crime victimisation surveys?

 

  • Working group II: Reflecting remembrance in human rights education and training

Chair: Pavel Tychtl, DG Communication, European Commission

Focus:

  • How can remembering the past contribute to understanding the present?
  • How can we best reflect remembrance of common European history in human rights education and training programmes?
  • What promising practices are there in this field?

 

  • Working group III: Vigilance and awareness: capacity building for law enforcement and criminal justice systems

Chair: Aija Kalnaja, Head of Training Unit, CEPOL - European Police College

Focus:

  • What are the effective ways to build capacity for law enforcement and criminal justice systems?
  • In what way should the specificity of hate crime be reflected in curricula for law enforcement agents and those involved in the criminal justice system?
  • What type of training on the issue is currently available in EU Member States? What could/should be improved?

 

  • Working group IV: Connecting the dots – discrimination as a trigger for hate crime

Chair: Karen Jochelson, Director of Economy and Employment Programme, Equality and Human Rights Commission, United Kingdom

Focus:

  • What are the discriminatory aspects of hate crime?
  • How can equality and non-discrimination education help prevent/fight discriminatory crime?
  • What are effective strategies to raise awareness about the detrimental effects of discrimination?

 

  • Working group V: Gross trivialisation: negating crimes of the past

Chair: Françoise Tulkens, former Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights

Focus:

  • What is the discriminatory aspect of revisionism/negationism, as defined in the Art 1.1 of the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia?
  • Why is it important for revisionism/negationism to be criminalised?
  • How can we best acknowledge the rights of victims of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes?

 

13:00-13:30

Closing remarks

Vytautas Leškevičius, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU

Manfred Nowak, Vice-Chairperson of the Management Board, FRA

 

13:30-15:00 Lunch