Strengthening the capacity of the police to combat violence against LGBTI persons

A one-day workshop on the topic "Investigating hate crimes" is being held in Sarajevo today, attended by about 40 police officers from B&H law enforcement agencies. This is the second workshop of this type organized within the project "Protecting Human Rights: Strengthening the Capacity of Police to Combat Violence Against LGBTI Persons", which is supported by the US Embassy.

The aim of the workshop is to increase the sensitivity of the police in working 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 produce more crime reports, and successful investigations and prosecuted offenses will also have a potential impact on potential perpetrators.

Hate crimes send a strong message of intolerance and cause great fear in the community they are targeted at, which is why it is important for the state to respond immediately.

The lecturers are experts in this field from the "Policewomen's Network" Association, Faculty of Criminology, Criminology and Security Studies and Sarajevo Open Center.

In the opening statement, it was emphasized that our country is characterized by a high degree of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, which is why LGBTI people are exposed to constant discrimination and endangerment of basic human rights. Since hate crimes tend to escalate, timely police response is very important.

It was specifically stated that the police is a service to all citizens and that police officials must act professionally in each specific case without prejudice to anyone.

Also, a Handbook for Police Officers for handling cases of endangering the rights of LGBTI persons is under development, which will be promoted in March next year and distributed to all police agencies in B&H.