Racist and xenophobic hate crime

Racism is prejudice or hostility towards a person's race, colour, language, nationality, or national or ethnic origin. While some communities are particularly vulnerable, any ethnic group can be the target of racism. Intolerant discourse in the media or from politicians can lead to increased racist sentiments towards migrants and other minorities, including in the form of scapegoating in times of economic crisis. ODIHR's annual reporting on hate crime in the OSCE area has demonstrated that racist attacks can take a range of forms, targeting people from diverse groups across the region. Violent attacks by groups of perpetrators against migrants and ethnic minorities, as well as damage to businesses and property owned by or associated with established ethnic communities are common features of this type of crime.

The OSCE has long recognized the threat to international security posed by racism, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance. Participating States condemned racial and ethnic hatred as early 1990. At the Ministerial Council meeting in Maastricht in 2003, participating States committed themselves to combat hate crimes fuelled by racist or xenophobic propaganda and to publicly denounce such crimes.

Most participating States reported that they record hate crime data according to at least one category related to racism and xenophobia, such as "race"/colour, nationality/ethnicity/national origin, citizenship or language. The differences in recording and reporting policies among participating States present a number of challenges for ODIHR when interpreting and verifying information received. Data from different participating States can be incomparable due, for example, to inconsistencies about which groups are legally protected and monitored. There is also a risk that the same data might be double counted in general statistics. For example, anti-Semitic hate crime might be reported separately or included under the broader category of racist hate crime, or both. While the number of NGOs reporting to ODIHR has increased, victims' negative experiences in police responses and a lack of capacity of NGOs to monitor and report on the phenomenon contribute to the problem of under-reporting.

ODIHR TANDIS

International Reports

Andorra

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recommended that Andorra conduct information campaigns to make the criminal law provisions relating to racism and intolerance known to the general public and particularly to potential victims of such crimes, and to strengthen the collection of data on the application of criminal law provisions, punishing racist offences so that their effectiveness can be assessed.

Armenia

The OSCE Chairmanship’s Personal Representative on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, also Focusing on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians and Members of Other Religions, Judge Catherine McGuinness, together with the other Personal Representatives of the Chairmanship, travelled to Armenia. During the visit she emphasized the importance of improving the collection of accurate data on hate crimes.

Austria

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) recommended that Austria increase efforts to prosecute and punish forms of discrimination, including hate crime, and to intensify the training for prosecutors, judges, lawyers, other judicial and police officers in the criminal justice system on the principles of the Convention.

Azerbaijan

The OSCE Chairmanship’s Personal Representative on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, also Focusing on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians and Members of Other Religions, Judge Catherine McGuinness, together with the other Personal Representatives of the Chairmanship, made an official visit to Azerbaijan. She emphasized the importance of improving the collection of accurate data on hate crimes.

Croatia

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recommended that Croatia ensure that all acts of racist violence are promptly and thoroughly investigated with a view to prosecution of the perpetrators.

Czech Republic

The UN Human Rights Council, in its Universal Periodic Review, encouraged the Czech Republic to ensure hate crimes are adequately investigated and prosecuted and that judges, prosecutors and police officers are effectively trained to prosecute hate crimes.

During his country visit, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe recommended that the Czech Republic continue developing its training on hate crime for all those involved in the criminal justice system. He noted that bias-motivated violence against Roma continues and that the authorities are making efforts to monitor extreme right-wing group activities and improving relationships with Roma communities, while also encouraging effective investigation and prosecution of hate crimes against Roma. He also encouraged authorities to extend the protection of hate crime provisions to ensure that bias motivation based on disability is included as an aggravating circumstance for sentencing.

Denmark

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recommended that Denmark ensure the application of aggravating circumstances for bias motivation, where relevant, and are setting up a monitoring system on the use of such provisions and instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions obliging prosecutors to raise racist motivation of a criminal offence in court.

Finland

The UN Human Rights Council, in its Universal Periodic Review, encouraged Finland to continue its efforts to ensure racially motivated crimes are promptly identified, investigated and prosecuted.

Greece

The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe recommended that Greece pursue efforts to improve its police response to hate crimes, including by providing specialized training, noting the disturbing reports of hate crimes during 2012. He also encouraged authorities to ensure that the mandate of the new police antiracist units was sufficiently broad to address homophobic hate crime.

Ireland

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recommended that Ireland improve and supplement the existing arrangements for collecting data on racist incidents, and assess the application of criminal law provisions against racism in order to identify any gaps that need closing, including making racist motivation an aggravating circumstance.

Italy

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) recommended that Italy provide training to local public authorities on racial discrimination, as a measure to address the lack of systemized training for law enforcement on obligations under the CERD treaty and the low number of prosecutions, despite the high number of hate crimes and violence. It also recommended that Italy take measures to prevent racist violence against Roma and Sinti people, and to ensure hate crimes against them are promptly investigated and prosecuted so that perpetrators do not enjoy de jure or de facto impunity.

The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe recommended that Italy address potential inconsistent interpretation of aggravating circumstances provisions for bias-motivated crime through political leadership and awareness raising for all persons involved in the criminal justice system. He also expressed concerns about violence against Roma, noting that the bias motivation of these crimes is often downplayed by authorities, and encouraged better monitoring of hate crimes and ensuring bias motivation is part of the investigation and prosecution of such crimes.

Liechtenstein

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recommended that Liechtenstein provide specific training for those working in the criminal justice system on the application of the criminal law provisions aimed at combating racist offences providing for racist or xenophobic motivation to be considered as an aggravating circumstance for all offences for the Victims’ Assistance Office to carry out awareness raising activities in this regard.

Netherlands

The UN Human Rights Council, in its Universal Periodic Review, encouraged the Netherlands to develop a system of recording statistical data on hate crimes based on the most common types of offences, and of adequate training for law enforcement and legal professionals on the importance of recognizing bias motive as an aggravating circumstance.

Norway

The OSCE Chairmanship’s Personal Representative on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, also Focusing on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians and Members of Other Religions, Judge Catherine McGuinness, together with the other Personal Representatives of the Chairmanship, made a country visit to Norway. She emphasized the importance of improving the collection of accurate data on hate crimes.

Poland

The UN Human Rights Council, in its Universal Periodic Review, encouraged Poland to consider strengthening legislation on hate crimes, institute a national mechanism on hate crime data collection, and to ensure immediate, adequate and independent investigations of racially motivated crimes.

It also recommended that Poland strengthen measures to prevent racist violence, especially against people of African origin.

Sweden

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recommended that Sweden use its training and awareness-raising measures in their continuing efforts to ensure that criminal law provisions concerning racism and racial discrimination are properly applied by all persons in the criminal justice system and to strengthen further its data collection and monitoring system on racist incidents.

Turkmenistan

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) recommended that Turkmenistan ensure that hate crimes are effectively investigated and brought to justice, regardless of the official status of alleged perpetrators.

Ukraine

The UN Human Rights Council, in its Universal Periodic Review, encouraged Ukraine to further pursue its efforts on training law enforcement to respond to hate crimes in order to ensure proper investigation.

United Kingdom

The UN Human Rights Council, in its Universal Periodic Review, encouraged the United Kingdom to continue work monitoring hate crime, investigating and sanctioning such crimes, working with affected communities, as well as strengthening its data collection in terms of disaggregated data.

OSCE Region

The UN Human Rights Council adopted Resolution 21/33, “From rhetoric to reality: a global call for concrete action against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”, which calls on states to “consider adopting effective measures to combat criminal acts motivated by racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance [...] (and to) take measures so that motivations are considered an aggravating factor for the purpose of sentencing.”

The report on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 66/143 by Mutuama Ruterre, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, emphasized that states should ensure that there is a criminal law that provides for aggravating circumstances for bias-motivated crime; that such crimes are adequately investigated and prosecuted to avoid impunity; that comprehensive data are collected on hate crimes; and that law-enforcement agents and members of the judiciary are trained to investigate and prosecute hate crimes, as well as to engage with affected communities to increase their willingness to report such crimes.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly issued a Resolution Addressing Racism and Xenophobia Affecting People of African Decent in the OSCE Region, reaffirming OSCE commitments to combat racism and hate crimes and encouraging implementation of recommendations from an OSCE/ODIHR roundtable event.

The UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 65/249, which addressed states’ responsibility to address hate crimes, noting the need to adopt effective measures to combat criminal acts motivated by racism, xenophobia and related intolerance, including adopting measures to ensure that such motivations are considered as aggravating circumstances for sentencing purposes.

In April, ODIHR convened a Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Combating Racism, Intolerance and Discrimination in Society through Sport. In October in Warsaw, ODIHR organized a training seminar for 22 civil society representatives of African descent from Austria, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, Moldova, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United States, which covered hate crime reporting.

The OSCE Chairmanship’s Personal Representative on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, also Focusing on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians and Members of Other Religions, Judge Catherine McGuinness, made a number of country visits together with the other Personal Representatives of the Chairmanship, travelling to Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan and Norway. During these visits she emphasized the importance of improving the collection of accurate data on hate crimes.

The EU adopted Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of all victims of crime. The Directive contains provisions that specifically recognize the needs of victims of hate crimes.