The Office of the Commissioner for Administration and the Protection of Human Rights, in cooperation with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), have launched a joint initiative to explore the possibilities that exist for the development and promotion of interagency co-operation between competent public authorities and civil society bodies, in order to more effectively address hate crimes in Cyprus.

In the framework of this cooperation, a Working Group has been set up, with the responsibility to define and promote specific actions that will strengthen and improve the framework for dealing with racist crimes in Cyprus and supporting the victims.

The 1st Meeting of this Working Group took place on 26 November 2021, during which presentations and discussions took place in relation to, inter alia, the promotion of a functional definition of what constitutes hate crime, the appointment of prosecutors with more specific competence and knowledge on prosecuting hate crimes, conducting training seminars for key stakeholders and improving the support framework for hate crime victims. The possibility of enlarging the Working Group was also discussed.

Participants in the Meeting included competent Officers of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Mr. Tome Shekerdjiev, Mr. Ales Hanek and Mr. Marc Quedenbaum, whose experience and knowledge contributed substantially to the discussions held by the members of the Working Group.

As regards to the national stakeholders , the members which participated in the Meeting, apart from the Officers of the Office of the Commissioner for Administration, were the following: Mrs. Natasa Antoniou, on behalf of the Police, the Lawyer of the Republic, Mr. Petros Varnavas, on behalf of the Attorney General’s Office, Mrs. Katerina Melissari, on behalf of the Non-Governmental Organization "Hope for Children", Mr. Haris Charalambidis, on behalf of the Non-Governmental Organization "Cyprus Refugee Council", and Mr. Aristotelis Konstantinidis, Associate Professor of International Law and Human Rights at the University of Cyprus.