Vienna Oct 29, 2009.- A two-day police experts meeting on hate crimes and effective law enforcement co-operation started in Vienna today.

The annual event is organized by the OSCE's Strategic Police Matters Unit (SPMU) and supported by the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The meeting gathers more than 65 participants from the OSCE's 56 participating States. Law enforcement experts from Belgium, Germany, Spain, Sweden, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and the USA will share national policing experiences and present recent cases investigated, as well as best practices in tackling hate crimes. The experts will also discuss the latest methods of preventing such crimes and responding to them through collective effort.

"Not only do hate crimes affect individual victims, but they also have a major impact on the victim's community. If not addressed properly, these crimes have the potential to degenerate into wider scale violence endangering social cohesion and security," said Manuel Marion, Deputy Head of the SPMU. "This is why working with the community to prevent hate crimes and respond to them should be a central part of effective democratic policing strategies."

Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, the ODIHR Director, said that in particular in times of crisis, minorities and vulnerable groups tend to become scapegoats for all the ills of society. Even where hostilities do not translate into violence, minority communities say they feel fearful and exposed.

"This is where law enforcement agencies have a role: an expeditious, transparent and robust response by relevant state actors, including the police, to hate crimes can help reduce insecurity of vulnerable groups. Police response to the hate-motivated incidents is the absolute first step in any state's effort to combat hate crimes," Lenarcic stressed.