Disability hate crime

Prejudice against people with disabilities is a belief that people with physical or mental impairments are inferior. People with disabilities face significant physical and social barriers to full participation in society. Lack of access to public transport and other basic services are common experiences, as well as entrenched prejudices that affect chances for employment, friendships and a full family life. Hate crimes against people with disabilities are often characterized by low level crime committed by people known to the victim such as petty theft or damage to mobility aids, escalating to very serious attacks involving torture and even murder.

A limited but growing number of governments provide official data on hate crime against people with disabilities. NGOs also report information on incidents motivated by bias against people with disabilities, as well as against homeless people. There is a low awareness of disability hate crime, and knowledge about how to monitor incidents motivated by hostility against people with disabilities among civil society organizations and the general public. As a result the data in this section is sparse.

TANDIS

International Reports

Czech Republic

During his country visit, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe recommended that the Czech Republic continue developing its training on hate crime for all those involved in the criminal justice system. He noted that bias-motivated violence against Roma continues and that the authorities are making efforts to monitor extreme right-wing group activities and improving relationships with Roma communities, while also encouraging effective investigation and prosecution of hate crimes against Roma. He also encouraged authorities to extend the protection of hate crime provisions to ensure that bias motivation based on disability is included as an aggravating circumstance for sentencing.

OSCE Region

ODIHR and the European Network of Independent Living co-organized a training seminar for people with disabilities in Dublin in May, which was attended by 25 participants from Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. A second seminar was held in Oslo for participants from the Nordic region in 2012, and 20 participants attended. The seminars raised awareness about disability hate crime and focused on strategies for recognizing and monitoring disability hate incidents.

The EU adopted Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of all victims of crime. The Directive contains provisions that specifically recognize the needs of victims of hate crimes.