Czech authorities launched a public campaign against hate crimes, entitled Hate Free Culture. The campaign is primarily aimed at raising awareness among the public, but will also consist of projects designed to increase protection of hate crime victims. Workshops and guidelines on addressing hate crimes for local administration officials and police officers are also being planned.
Official figures recorded 13 hate crimes motivated by bias against Roma. These included one homicide, nine physical assaults, one case of damage to property, one case of threats and one case of disturbance of the peace.
Hate crimes against Roma are not fully included in the official statistics provided here as part of the "Unspecified" category.
Official figures recorded ten anti-Semitic crimes.
The number presented here may contain some hate speech and other "extremist" offences falling outside of the OSCE definition of hate crimes. Anti-Semitic hate crimes are not fully included in the official statistics provided here as part of the "Unspecified" category.
Official figures recorded one case of violent hate crime motivated by bias against Muslims.
Anti-Muslim hate crime is presented in addition to the official statistics provided here as part of the "Unspecified" category.
This number represents all the officially recorded hate crimes, after other forms of "extremist" crime were removed.
The European Roma Information Office (ERIO) reported an incident in which the home of a Roma family was broken into and the mother and father were physically assaulted in front of their children. The father was seriously injured.
The Jewish Community of Prague reported one physical assault; 11 incidents of harassment, including a series of 25 threatening emails sent to the organization, and threatening behaviour against members of the Jewish community, often near synagogues; four incidents of the desecration of graves, and one incident of graffiti on a synagogue. In IUSTITIA reported one incident of anti-Semitic threats. World Without Nazism reported two incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti.
In IUSTITIA reported one incident of anti-Muslim threats.
In IUSTITIA reported one homophobic physical assault during Prague Pride and an incident of threats against a transgender person.
In IUSTITIA reported six anti-Roma physical assaults, including one against a family in their home, one resulting in serious injuries and one carried out by a group, involving the use of knives; six cases of threats, including one in which an axe was used to damage property; one incident of graffiti; and one computer-hacking incident, after which personal data was published.
World Without Nazism reported one physical assault carried out by a group.
In IUSTITIA reported ten physical assaults, including three carried out by groups, one involving a knife and three causing serious injuries; three incidents of graffiti; and two cases of threats, one of which involved knives and caused damage to property.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported one incident of threats against civil society groups working with refugees and migrants.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that the governmental Agency for Social Inclusion launched the Hate Free campaign against hate violence and intolerance, which targets youth and consists of the Hate Free social media campaign, local educational projects, advocacy and research.
In his annual report, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe expressed concern over the increased frequency of violent acts targeting Roma communities, stating that all incidences of hate crime should be investigated, including those committed by law-enforcement officials.
In his annual report, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe called on local authorities to take measures to prevent the recurrence of hate crimes against members of minority groups.
ODIHR observes that the Czech Republic has not reported hate crime data disaggregated by bias motivation to ODIHR.