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

States that report

No Information is available.

Overview of incidents reported by other sources

Violent attacks against people Threats Attacks against property Total
No data available.
Date Country Type of incident Source Description
No data available.

International Reports

Denmark

In its fifth report on Denmark, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recommended that the police take hate motivations into consideration in cases of vandalism targeting religious sites.

OSCE Region

The Human Rights Council, in Resolution 31/16, expressed concern over violent attacks motivated by anti-religious bias, targeting individuals belonging to religious minorities, as well as religious places, and recommended that states prevent, investigate and punish such acts.