Anti-Roma hate crime

OSCE participating States recognized the danger of ethnic hatred targeting Roma and Sinti as early as 1990. Anti-Roma rhetoric, including that focusing on "Gypsy criminality", can be perpetuated in the media and by political actors. EU enlargement, coupled with Roma marginalization, have led many Roma individuals and families to seek better conditions and opportunities elsewhere through migration, often encountering negative reactions in destination countries or areas. ODIHR's annual reporting on hate crime has presented a range of hate crimes targeting Roma. Assault, property damage and murder, involving the use of explosives, firearms or Molotov cocktails have featured in these reports. Among the particularly worrying incidents reported to ODIHR have been arson attacks against Roma homes.

More recently, Ministerial Council decisions in Maastricht (2003), Athens (2009) and Kiev (2013), as well as the Astana declaration (2010) have reconfirmed the need to combat violence against Roma and Sinti and urged participating States to step up their efforts in this regard.

A number of factors suggest that the reported data provide only a fragment of the overall picture of hate crimes against Roma and Sinti. While some participating States record anti-Roma hate crimes, these may not be disaggregated in their statistics and, instead, be included under the heading of racist and xenophobic hate crimes. In addition excessive force against or ill-treatment of Roma, including, for example, in the course of evictions or during stop-and-search actions by the police, can contribute to a lack of trust in the authorities. This, combined with a lack of means and knowledge on the part of Roma communities to monitor and report hate crimes means that these are likely significantly under-reported.

ODIHR TANDIS

Overview of incidents reported by other sources

Violent attacks against people Threats Attacks against property Total
48 18 18 84

Date Country Type of incident Source Description
2020 Bulgaria Attacks against property OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020 Spain Attacks against property Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) Show info
2020 Greece Threats Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN) Show info
2020-01 Serbia Threats European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-01 North Macedonia Attacks against property OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-01 Poland Threats "Never Again" Association Show info
2020-01 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-01 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-01 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-01 Czech Republic Threats In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-01 Italy Attacks against property Lunaria Show info
2020-02 Albania Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-02 Italy Threats European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-02 North Macedonia Violent attacks against people Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (MHC), OSCE Mission to Skopje Show info
2020-02 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-02 Czech Republic Threats In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-02 Czech Republic Threats In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-03 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-03 Spain Attacks against property Muslim Human Rights Association, Union of Islamic Communities of Spain Show info
2020-03 Ukraine Violent attacks against people OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-04 Ukraine Violent attacks against people OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-04 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-04 Ukraine Threats OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Show info
2020-04 Romania Violent attacks against people OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-04 Romania Violent attacks against people OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-04 Slovakia Violent attacks against people OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-04 Germany Violent attacks against people OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-04 Ukraine Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights, OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Show info
2020-05 Serbia Attacks against property European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-05 Serbia Attacks against property European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-05 Italy Threats European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-05 Spain Violent attacks against people Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) Show info
2020-05 Moldova Threats European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-05 Ukraine Attacks against property OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-05 Serbia Violent attacks against people OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-05 Germany Attacks against property OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-05 Serbia Threats OSCE Mission to Serbia Show info
2020-05 Bulgaria Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-05 Bulgaria Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-05 North Macedonia Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-05 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-05 Spain Violent attacks against people Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) Show info
2020-05 France Violent attacks against people OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-06 Hungary Attacks against property OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-06 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-06 North Macedonia Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-06 Bulgaria Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-06 Serbia Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-06 Germany Threats MANEO Show info
2020-06 Serbia Violent attacks against people OSCE Mission to Serbia Show info
2020-06 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-06 North Macedonia Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-06 Spain Violent attacks against people Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) Show info
2020-06 Czech Republic Threats In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-06 Greece Violent attacks against people Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN) Show info
2020-07 Ukraine Attacks against property OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-07 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-07 North Macedonia Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-07 Czech Republic Threats In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-07 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-08 Bulgaria Attacks against property European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-08 Croatia Violent attacks against people Croatian civil society coalition Show info
2020-08 Serbia Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-08 North Macedonia Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-08 Italy Threats European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-08 Ukraine Threats European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights, OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Show info
2020-09 Serbia Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-09 Romania Violent attacks against people OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-09 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-09 North Macedonia Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (MHC), OSCE Mission to Skopje, OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-09 Spain Violent attacks against people Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) Show info
2020-09 Italy Attacks against property European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-10 Italy Attacks against property European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-10 Serbia Violent attacks against people OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-10 Serbia Violent attacks against people OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info
2020-10 North Macedonia Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (MHC), OSCE Mission to Skopje Show info
2020-10 Italy Attacks against property European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-10 Spain Attacks against property Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) Show info
2020-10 Czech Republic Threats In IUSTITIA Show info
2020-11 North Macedonia Violent attacks against people European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-12 Serbia Attacks against property European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Show info
2020-12 Czech Republic Violent attacks against people In IUSTITIA, OSCE Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights Show info

International Reports

Czech Republic

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Czechia".

Germany

The United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of Germany".

Greece

The United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) published relevant recommendations in its "Report from the thirty-ninth session: Compilation on Greece."

Hungary

The United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) published relevant recommendations in its "Report from the thirty-ninth session: Compilation on Hungary."

Switzerland

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the combined tenth to twelfth reports of Switzerland" [in French].

OSCE Region

The Council of the European Union published relevant recommendations in its "Council Recommendation on Roma equality, inclusion and participation."

The Council of the European Union published relevant recommendations in its "Council Recommendation on Roma equality, inclusion and participation."