PRESERVERE

PERSERVERE is concerned with fighting intolerance, racism, xenophobia and discrimination against vulnerable ethnic and racial groups and, in particular, Roma, Jews, Muslims and people of African descent. Starting from the premise that any system tasked with protecting the vulnerable from discrimination must, first and foremost, rely on an effective legal framework, the project implements activities concerned with the better enforcement of the law. It undertakes research in 7 partner countries and develops educational material and tools that will be used to educate legal professionals (judges, lawyers, prosecutors) and frontline workers (legal officers in prisons, the police, social services, reception asylum centres and border control authorities etc) on how to use the nationally transposed European framework on anti-racism. Relying on desktop and fieldwork research, the project will produce a series of deliverables that meet this objective, including (a) an e-book identifying any gaps in the law and legal practice in both the European level and national levels of the 7 partner countries; (b) a training toolkit that will be used to educate at least 210 legal professionals and 210 frontline workers, while also reach at least 70 trainers/educators in the 7 partner countries; and (c) a series of white papers recommending changes to the European and national laws and procedures to ensure that these are fit for the purpose of fighting racism and protecting members of victimised ethnic and racial groups.

The EU Anti-Racism Action Plan 2020-25 notes that a system that protects groups vulnerable to racial or ethnic discrimination must, first and foremost, rely on the effective enforcement of the legal framework.

While however, this is available in the EU (primarily in the form of the Racial Equality Directive and the Victims’ Rights Directive), the European Commission has acknowledged that effective implementation of said framework is often lacking. This project will address the problem identified by the Commission by:

1. Examining how the legal framework has been transposed in MS, and specifically in the national contexts of project partners. It will question whether the existing legal framework, at both the European and national levels, remains fits for purpose, or if there are gaps to be filled (by amending and strengthening existing Directives or passing new legislation).
2. Identifying the gaps (and reasons these exist) in the implementation of the law in each MS. This will shed light on the extent to which the existing legal framework is of practical use to potential victims and,if not, how it is failing them and why. One hypothesis that will be explored in detail is whether poor implementation is due to the lack of training of legal professionals expected to deal with instances of racism and discrimination.
3. Supporting these conclusions with better data. The European Commission has emphasised that better data results in better planned and better targeted policies for the protection of racial and ethnicminorities. The project will explore the extent to which the law is enforced in different MS, by collecting and coding data on the number of relevant cases that are reported to the police or equality bodies, the outcomes of their investigations, how many cases reach the Court and their outcomes, including any penalties imposed on the perpetrators.
4. Building on the analysis and data collected, the project will develop educational materials for legal professionals (an educational handbook, policy papers, videos, podcasts, online and face-to-face trainings). These are especially valuable in MS that have formally transposed the EU Directives but have not invested in training legal professionals to familiarise themselves with the law in practice. (WP3)

Work Package 1: Project Management, Monitoring and Quality Assurance

• To plan the overall financial and administrative project organisation and activities
• To ensure the correct implementation of the project activities in order to obtain foreseen outputs and results planned
• To manage any risk raised and to mitigate it effectively
• To ensure overall progress according to time and allocated budget
• To coordinate the consortium and monitor each partner’s work, with effective management and communication mechanisms
• To report progress to the Project Officer within the European Commission
• To monitor and evaluate all project activities and deliverables

Work Package 2: State of the Art Research and Legal Contexts Mapping

• To identify the hurdles that are preventing the effective implementation of the EU legal framework on combating intolerance, racism, xenophobia and discrimination in the different national contexts.
• To examine whether the existing legal framework, at both the European and national levels, remains fits for purpose, or if there are gaps to be filled
• To collect the needs, the perceptions, the challenges and the expectations of target groups and stakeholders
• To supporting these conclusions by collecting and coding data on the number of relevant cases that are reported to the police or equality bodies, the outcomes of their investigations, how many cases reach the Court and their outcomes, including any penalties imposed on the perpetrators.
• To inform, support, progress and adjust the development of the PRESERVERE tools based on the outcomes of the mapping of the status, challenges, gaps, practices and methods in legal frameworks aimed at fighting intolerance, racism, xenophobia, discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes

Work Package 3: Development of Training Package and PRESERVERE’s Online Training Toolkit

• The instructional design of an informed and needs oriented training package for target groups, stakeholders and beneficiaries.
• To develop innovative learning tools and the platform where the training package and activities will be hosted. Don’t the innovative learning tools need to be listed here?

• To design and develop the PRESERVERE Training toolkit, an online guide (which is a component of the wider PRESERVERE toolkit) to assist the transferability and adaptation of PRESERVERE outcomes in different training contexts

Work Package 4: PRESERVERE Learning and Training Activities Implementation

• To effectively implement the PRESERVERE Learning Activities in all partner countries and multiply its online use and accessibility in the majority of EU member states, to at least 180 professionals in the field of law
• To build the capacity, skills and understanding of at least 180 frontline workers (e.g. police officers, legal officers in reception centres, prisons etc.)
• To provide access to at least 70 trainers/educators from all partner countries in the Training material (in relevant civil society organisations, local authorities, national equality bodies)
• To collect good examples of implementation that will support the future spread, and effective implementation of the PRESERVERE Training Toolkit

Work Package 5: Dissemination and Sustainability

• Development of the dissemination and communication plan
• Development of basic dissemination products
• Development of an PRESERVERE series of white paper reports that will be used as an information and policy uptake guide
• Setup and promotion of PRESERVERE’s network
• Lay the foundation for the sustainability and further multiplication
• Implementation of the final dissemination conference

ITALY

GREECE

CYPRUS

NETHERLANDS

BULGARIA

MALTA

ITALY