Young European Ambassadors send a loud and clear message saying no to hatred!
50 Young European Ambassadors (ΥΕΑs) from the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership regions were introduced to methods of effectively tackling hate speech and discrimination. YEAs participated in the “Promoting equality and non-discrimination and combating hate speech” training held at the premises of the European Youth Centre in Budapest. This is a continuation of the online training held in 2023. YEAs are expected to further support their local engagement making their communities more diverse and equal.

In addition, YEAs were invited to meet at the Council of Europe Offices in Baku, Chisinau, and Yerevan to learn more about the work carried out in the areas of human rights, democracy, and rule of law and how to ensure synergies and promote Council of Europe standards and tools on non-discrimination through their work in local communities.

REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
A video illustrating the difference between hate speech and an offence or an insult through a practical example is now available! The video analyses the circumstances in which a discourse may or may not amount to hate speech, on the basis of six criteria, such as: context, status of the speaker, intention of the speaker, content of the message, extent of the message, effect of the message.

A platform for discussion bringing together state authorities and civil society organisations from the LGBTI community, focused on ensuring the right to legal gender recognition for persons living in the Republic of Moldova, as well as on the related European standards and examples of good practice.

UKRAINE
The staff of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsperson) were trained on European anti-discrimination and hate speech standards through two online sessions held on 14 December 2023 and 25 January 2024. These activities were tailored to respond to the mandate of the national equality body, in the field of protecting human rights and promoting equality and non-discrimination. The sessions contributed to strengthening the capacities of this institution to deal with the relevant cases and to fulfil the human rights advocacy role.

The Eastern Partnership countries have advanced substantially in regulating corruption risk assessment and management processes by designing internal tools and legislative frameworks. While some countries use more advanced tools and have established clear mandates in this field, others have started to develop legislative framework and institutional set-ups.

The staff of the Secretariat and the Patronage Services of Judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine got trained on key elements of jurisdiction and interpretation of human rights by the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union. The training aimed at strengthening the functioning of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in line with European standards. 50 persons benefit from this training which also available online.

GEORGIA
Through a series of capacity development activities, 32 prosecutors received necessary methodological and practical training with the aim to strengthen the General Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia in-house training capacities and create a pool of trainer prosecutors. This pool will serve to support the introduction of a continuous legal education system for prosecutors, that in the long run will result in prosecutors who can perform their duties better, focusing on the public interest to respect and protect human rights and freedoms.

Policy-makers, judges, prosecutors, legal professionals, as well as representatives of academia and civil society can now benefit from updated national studies “Barriers, remedies and good practices on women’s access to justice” for Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine.

The updated national studies “Barriers, remedies and good practices on women’s access to justice” for Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine are now available online. The studies were first prepared in 2017 and were updated in 2023 with the aim to identify and support the removal of obstacles to women’s access to justice in these four Eastern Partnership countries, as well as to strengthen the capacity of national authorities to ensure that the justice chain is more gender-responsive.

What is the Quick Response Mechanism?
Find out more about the Partnership for Good Governance tool, by which the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) and other Council of Europe bodies may provide ad hoc legal and policy advice to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, linked to priority reforms on: strengthening justice, countering economic crime, promoting equality and non-discrimination and advancing women’s access to justice and combating violence against women.