Greece

Greece regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR.

In 2017, Greece implemented ODIHR’s Prosecutors and Hate Crime Training (PAHCT). In June 2018, an "Agreement on inter-agency co-operation on addressing racist crimes" was concluded by relevant state authorities and a network of civil society organizations (CSOs) as part of ODIHR's project on "Building a Comprehensive Criminal Justice Response to Hate Crimes". Consequently, the agreement has led to improved hate crime recording and data collection. On February 2022, ODIHR held an online diagnostic workshop with government representatives, criminal justice actors and CSOs to assess structures and services for hate crime victim support in Greece.

In 2022, an office within the Ministry of Justice was tasked with overseeing the systematic collection of statistical data on hate crimes.   

Hate crime data collection in Greece
Support for hate crime victims in Greece
Hate crime capacity building in Greece

OFFICIAL DATA

Year Hate crimes recorded by police Prosecuted Sentenced
2022 99 32 20
2021 110 2 1
2020 171 34 0
2019 Not available Not available Not available
2018 164 17 4
2017 128 46 6
2016 40 6 2
2015 60 27 4
2014 71 29 5
2013 109 9 0
2012 1 1 Not available
2011 Not available Not available 1
2010 2 Not available Not available
2009 2 2 Not available

About 2022 Data

    In addition to 99 cases recorded by the police for 2022, 27 hate speech cases were recorded that fall outside of the OSCE's hate crime definition. In some cases, more than one criminal offence was involved. Some cases include multiple bias motivations. Therefore, there is a difference between these records and the breakdown by bias motivation below.

    The number of prosecuted cases refer to all hate crime cases for which article 82A of the Penal Code or Law 927/1979 were implemented by the Public Prosecutor. The same applies to the number of sentenced cases. Furthermore, the numbers of prosecuted and sentenced cases also include hate crimes committed in years other than 2022 due to the timeframe of police investigations.

Hate crime recorded by police

Incidents presented in this section may involve more than one crime. Hate speech offences are excluded from the breakdown below.

National developments

In 2022, the Office of Collection and Processing of Judicial Statistics Data in the Central Service of the Ministry of Justice was established with the Presidential Decree, tasked with the systematic collection of statistical data on hate crimes.  

Article 16 of Law 4356/2015 was amended to make representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, of Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture and Sports permanent members of the National Council against Racism and Intolerance (Article 32 of Law 4990/2022 (Government Gazette A' 210/11.11.2022)). The Council is tasked with designing policies to prevent and address racism and intolerance, oversee the implementation of legislation against racism and intolerance, and promotion and co-ordination of actions to address these phenomena in an effective manner. The Council involves civil society organizations (CSOs), such as the Network for Recording Incidents of Racial Violence (in which 52 CSOs participate) and the National Confederation of Persons with Disabilities.

The Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court issued Circular No. 8/2022 regarding the maltreatment of foreigners. The document called for the immediate legal intervention of the Prosecutor's Office in cases of prohibited discrimination, maltreatment or abuse and in general violation of the human rights of any person, regardless of origin.

On 21 February 2022, ODIHR' held an online diagnostic workshop to assess the national structures and services for hate crime victim support in Greece. The workshop resulted in several practical recommendations on improving protection and support to hate crime victims.

In 2022, the Headquarters of the Hellenic Police organized a seven-week training programme for police officers on hate crimes, domestic violence and the protection of rights of vulnerable persons and the LGBTQI+ community. Each training course lasted one week and was attended by police officers from all over Greece.

In the first half of 2022, the Greek authorities distributed approximately 2,000 copies of the Guide for the rights of victims of racist crimes among the prosecution authorities, CSOs, police departments, public hospitals, reception centres, and asylum offices located across the country. The Guide is available in ten languages.

KEY OBSERVATION

ODIHR recognizes Greece's efforts to improve hate crime recording and data collection mechanisms and to enhance national hate crime victim support mechanisms. However, based on the available information, it observes that Greece has not made hate crime data public. In addition, ODIHR observes that Greece would benefit from raising awareness among and building the capacity of prosecutors and judges to address hate crime.

ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, OSCE participating States committed to making reliable and detailed data and statistics on hate crimes public. Participating States also committed to introducing or further developing professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes. ODIHR stands ready to support Greece in meeting its relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and tailored assistance, as well as further resources and capacity-building assistance for the prosecution and judiciary.

Our methodology

INCIDENTS REPORTED BY OTHER SOURCES

No information is available.

In addition to the incidents summarized below, this graph includes 1 anti-Muslim and 1 racist and xenophobic incident reported as statistics by the Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN).

In addition to the incidents summarized below, this graph includes 1 anti-Muslim and 1 racist and xenophobic incident reported as statistics by the Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN).

No information is available.

INTERNATIONAL REPORTS

No information is available.