Bringing together NGOs and official partners to tackle hate crime against LGBT persons – this is the aim of the transnational project Come Forward, implemented in 10 European countries by a group of 22 organizations. It is the largest international action focused on countering anti–LGBT hate crime to date. The project website has just been launched at www.lgbthatecrime.eu.
Come Forward: Empowering and Supporting Victims of Anti–LGBT Hate Crimes is the new groundbreaking action led by the University of Brescia (Italy) and NGO Lambda Warsaw (Poland) and implemented by a consortium of NGOs, universities and public institutions from 10 European countries. The project aims at fighting underreporting of anti–LGBT hate crime by increasing the number of dedicated reporting centres, improving the access to specialized victim support, sharing good practices, strengthening cross–border and multi–agency partnerships and raising awareness and empowering victim.
– This will be done by building capacity of professionals from civil society organizations and statutory bodies, such as law enforcement and prosecutors – said Piotr Godzisz from Lambda Warsaw, the Scientific Leader in the project. – The project will generate important research data, showing gaps in the knowledge and implementation of the Victims directive regarding to victims of anti–LGBT hate crime. At the end of the project, we plan to train over 1000 professionals – said Godzisz.
The new project website, available at LGBTHateCrime.eu, launched on June 15, 2017, has a clear visual identity featuring the logotype of the Come Forward project and the logotype of the website with the words LGBT hate crime. It is easy to navigate and accessible on all platforms. It features sections on activities and resources developed in the project. It will provide access to information about the delivery of 44 in–country trainings, publications and other information. It will also serve as a platform for registration for the final conference, planned in the 2nd half of 2018 in Bulgaria.
– There is a real need for a coordinated approach to violence targeting people because of their sexual orientation and gender identity in Europe. Much needed resources are not always available. This will be a great tool for practitioners, scholars and policy makers. The great feature of the website is that it has the capacity to host not only one project – currently Come Forward – but also other projects in the future – said Prof. Giacomo Viggiani from the University of Brescia, the Coordinator in the Project.
Information about activities and developments in the project will also be disseminated through communication channels used by project partners.
The project is implemented over 24 months between December 2016 and November 2018. The overall budget of the project is 874.349,63 euros, of which 699.494,69 comes from the EU. Project is delivered by 13 partners (University of Brescia – Italy, Lambda Warsaw – Poland, Çavaria – Belgium, Bilitis – Bulgaria, GLAS – Bulgaria, Zagreb Pride – Croatia, Praksis – Greece, Colour Youth – Greece, Háttér – Hungary, LGL – Lithuania, GES – Spain, University of Girona – Spain, Galop – United Kingdom), and 11 associate partners (Avvocatura per i Diritti LGBTI – Italy, TGEU – Germany, ILGA Europe – Belgium, Office for the Commission of Human Rights – Poland, Institute for the Equality of Women and Men – Belgium, Human Rights House – Croatia, Human Rights Monitoring Institute – Lithuania, Greek Ombudsman – Greece, Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights – Bulgaria, Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities – Belgium, International Network for Hate Studies).
