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
Greece's hate crime legislation
Download the 2013 hate crime report for Greece

OFFICIAL DATA REPORTED BY STATES

Year Hate crimes recorded by police Prosecuted Sentenced
2023 97 115 22
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

Hate crime recorded by police

National developments

Greece amended its legislation by adding gender identity to the list of protected grounds in Criminal Code’s aggravating circumstance provision. The amendment also forbids the suspension of the sentence in cases where bias motivation has been established as an aggravating circumstance.

Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights has requested ODIHR to assist in developing the capacity of the criminal justice system. Workshops on prosecuting hate crimes will take place at the National School for Judges in Thessaloniki in 2014. Implementation of ODIHR’s PAHCT programme is being considered.

KEY OBSERVATION

ODIHR observes that the law enforcement agencies of Greece have not recorded the bias motivations of hate crimes.

INCIDENTS REPORTED BY CIVIL SOCIETY

INTERNATIONAL REPORTS

Racist and xenophobic hate crime

The three Personal Representatives of the OSCE Chairperson‑in‑Office on tolerance and non‑discrim­ination made a joint visit to Greece. Following the visit, the Personal Representatives presented their recommendations for the country, which included police training on hate crimes.

The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe recommended that the country use criminal sanctions against individuals, and restrict the activities of organizations, that incite intolerance or that are implicated in hate crimes. The Commissioner further recommended the continuous provision of anti-racism training for the police, coast guard, prosecutors and judges.

The thematic situation report on “Racism, Discrimination, Intolerance and Extremism: Learning from Experiences in Greece and Hungary”, published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), collected and analysed information from both countries, and presented EU Member States with a number of suggested good practices in combating racism, discrimination, intolerance and extremism.