Belgium

In 2023, a working group (COL 13) worked to revise the joint circular for police forces and public prosecutors on the investigation and prosecution policy of discrimination and hate crimes in 2023. The aim of this revision was to improve the recording of hate crimes by the police, the public prosecutor's office and the justice system in general.

In 2023, the Brussels-Capital Region, Wallonia and the French Community launched a joint call for civil society projects to combat cyberhate linked to racism and xenophobia. The projects were required to focus on at least one of the following areas: prevention, training, awareness-raising or education in the fight against cyberhate, and/or support for victims of cyberhate.

In 2023, the equality body Unia published its annual report, including an analysis of hate crime data collected in 2022. It revealed that hate crimes motivated by perceived racial characteristics are the most numerous, followed by crimes motivated by bias against sexual orientation and philosophical or religious conviction. The Unia report also identified the main contexts in which hate crimes occur, with 'life in society', employment and education in the top three. The most frequent types of offences identified by Unia were intimidation and harassment, assault and battery, and criminal harassment.

In March 2023, a study titled "Genoeg.Assez.Enough" was published on experiences of violence against LGBTQIA+ people. The study investigated the extent to which the target group came into contact with violence in the two years preceding the study.

Unia also published reports on discrimination against people of African descent and anti-Semitism in Belgium in 2022 and 2024.

Notable cases:

There were several notable hate crime cases that received court rulings in 2023:
1.    An elderly Togolese man was severely beaten and subjected to racist and xenophobic insults while waiting for the bus. The victim was severely affected both physically and psychologically by the attack. The case was prosecuted with hate motivation as an aggravating circumstance. The perpetrator was sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine. 
2.    Three men punched a man on the street. A few months later, the same perpetrators punched three Iraqi men as they left a café. In both attacks, the victims were subjected to racist and xenophobic insults, based on their perceived nationality and ethnicity. The court ruled that the hate motivation was established against two defendants but not against the third. The court noted that the fact that one of the accused was of Moroccan origin had no bearing. The defendants were sentenced to imprisonment and received fines.