Initiation of a Multidisciplinary Unit for Victims of Hate Crime/Speech

2026-07-22

Objectives: 1) To strengthen multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary cooperation 2) To upgrade the quality of services given to victims 3) To raise awareness and encourage victims and potential victims, witnesses and bystanders to report hate/speech crime 4) To exchange best practices with other EU Member States Activities: 1) Setting up of a Steering Group to manage the project 2) Research Component 3) Establishment of a Multidisciplinary Unit to give a holistic service for victims of Hate Crime, including a physical venue, online presence and free-phone lines 4) Training to various professionals 5) A public awareness and education campaign informing the general public of what constitutes hate crime/speech and the respective penalties, informing victims from where to seek assistance and encourage reporting of hate crime/speech 6) Final conference Type and number of persons benefiting from the project: 1) 70 Police Officers 2) 4 Front Liners 3) Minority groups, victims of hate crime/speech: cannot quantify as this is a new service and data has never been recorded 4) 17 Maltese NGOs and 50 NGOs from 24 European countries, working with minority groups 5) 5 Maltese Public Entities Expected results 1) Victims will be receiving a holistic and professional service 2) Trained professionals ready to support victims and cooperating with other professionals 3) Increasing reporting and referrals across sectors and disciplines 4) Introducing a bias indicator system to identify Hate Crime/Speech 5) Introducing a Police specific system for recording Hate Crime data Type and number of deliverables to be produced: 1) A functioning Multidisciplinary Unit 2) One report, including an analysis of the current situation in Malta and the way forward 3) Identification of victims of hate crime/speech 4) 74 officials who participated in at least one of the 3 training courses offered throughout this project 5) One extensive public awareness campaign targeting the general public

Malta

2026-02-01