Greece

ODIHR’s insights

For 2024, ODIHR received reports of 87 incidents that took place in Greece in the following bias motivation categories: anti-Christian, anti-LGBTI, anti-Muslim, anti-Roma, anti-Semitic, and racist and xenophobic hate incidents. In addition, several hate incidents involved multiple bias motives, such as anti-Roma and gender-based, gender-based and anti-LGBTI, racist and xenophobic and anti-Muslim, and racist and xenophobic and anti-Semitic.

ODIHR observes that the majority of incidents reported with a racist and xenophobic bias motivation were violent physical assaults and were perpetrated against migrants and asylum seekers, with unaccompanied minors representing a significant number of victims in such cases. Several of these incidents were also reported to have been committed by law enforcement officers. Of the anti-Christian incidents reported to ODIHR, most involved damage to community property. Several anti-LGBTI threats were observed online when the victims posted on social media in support of an LGBTI-rights march. Several anti-Roma physical assaults were reported to have been perpetrated by law enforcement officers during a police raid on a Roma camp. A series of anti-Semitic incidents were reported involving arson attacks targeting synagogues and businesses, as well as threats to the community via phone and email. Additionally, ODIHR observes that several anti-Semitic incidents also had a racist and xenophobic bias, when community spaces were vandalized with anti-Semitic and xenophobic graffiti written in Hebrew.

It should be noted that ODIHR did not receive any reporting on Greece relating to disability hate incidents. Therefore, there are likely to be gaps in the information reported here.