Hate crime against Christians and members of other religions

Hate crime targeting individuals on the basis of religion can take various forms. The extent and nature of attacks motivated by bias against a particular religion are influenced by a number of factors, including the minority or majority status of that religion in a given territory. Successive ODIHR hate crime reports have indicated that graffiti and vandalism against places of worship, the desecration of cemeteries and arson attacks against churches are some of the more common types of crimes motivated by bias against Christians and members of other religions.

Beginning in 2004, a number of OSCE ministerial council decisions and declarations have included specific commitments on and references to the importance of combating prejudice, intolerance and discrimination against Christians and members of other religions.
Some participating States disaggregate data on anti-religious hate crime into sub-categories, such as "non-denominational", "Catholic", "Protestant", "other religions", or "Jehovah's witnesses". The Holy See also collects information on hate incidents based on bias against Christians through its network of regional representatives. This information is submitted by ODIHR to authorities in the respective participating States for verification and information on the status of investigation and of hate motive.
OSCE participating States collect varying types of information, which is then reported and presented under the heading of this bias motivation. For some states, the number of cases reported here may cover all hate crimes committed with an anti-religious bias (including anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim). In other cases, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes are reported under specific bias categories and, thus not included in the overall figure for crimes committed with an anti-religious bias. Some participating States report only crimes committed against Christians. As a consequence of these differences, the data presented under this bias category require caution, as comparison based on numbers of cases alone may not be accurate.
For these reasons, this category of hate crimes has been used until 2016, when ODIHR further disaggregated its reporting. From this year on, Anti-Christian Hate Crime and Other Hate Crime Based on Religion or Belief are presented as separate categories.

ODIHR TANDIS

Incidents were reported on these states

3 states

International Reports

Armenia

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) noted several attacks on Jehovah’s witnesses and their places of worship in Armenia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) noted that attackers continued to damage religious sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also recommended that all “incidents of alleged racist violence be thoroughly and promptly investigated” and that the authorities “introduce systematic and comprehensive monitoring of all incidents which may constitute racist violence.”

Poland

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) noted cases targeting Orthodox Christian and Catholic churches.

Serbia

In Milanović v. Serbia, for the first time the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) referenced the duty of officials to investigate a religiously motivated crime. The Court stated that, just as in the case of “racially motivated attacks, when investigating violent incidents, State authorities have the additional duty to take all reasonable steps to unmask any religious motive and to establish whether or not religious hatred or prejudice may have played a role in the events.” The case concerned a leading member of the Vaishnava Hindu religious community, also known as Hare Krishna, who suffered a series of attacks between 2001 and 2007.