A further 90 cases of incitement to hatred were recorded, leading to preliminary investigations in 39 cases, of which 19 cases resulted in a conviction. These figures are not included in the table above as they fall outside of the OSCE's hate crime definition.
Throughout 2022, the process of introducing amendments to the Criminal Code progressed. As a result, the Law of 28 March 2023 introduced an aggravating circumstance for offenses motivated by the protected characteristics listed in Article 454 of the Penal Code (namely, origin, skin colour, gender, sexual orientation, gender change, gender identity, family status, age, state of health, disability, morals, political or philosophical opinions, trade union activities, and membership or non-membership and actual or supposed belonging to a particular ethnicity, nation, race or religion).
In 2022, the Ministry of Justice co-operated with the "respect.lu" civil society organization to set up a "Dialogue instead of hate" programme for perpetrators. The outcome of perpetrators' participation in the programme may have an impact on the State Prosecutor's decision on whether to open criminal proceedings.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "Final report on Luxembourg adopted on 27 June 2023 by ECRI at its 92nd plenary meeting (27-30 June 2023)".
The United Nations Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) published relevant recommendations in its "Luxembourg. Compilation of information prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights".
ODIHR recognizes Luxembourg's efforts to report hate crimes to ODIHR and to improve hate crime legislation to ensure that bias motivations can be effectively acknowledged and appropriate penalties can be imposed on perpetrators. However, based on the available information, it observes that the law enforcement agencies of Luxembourg have not recorded the bias motivations of hate crimes, while Luxembourg's hate crime recording and statistics do not sufficiently distinguish hate crimes from other crimes. ODIHR further observes that Luxembourg would benefit from raising awareness among and building the capacity of criminal justice officials to address hate crime.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, OSCE participating States agreed to a definition of hate crime shared by all OSCE participating States, and committed to collecting reliable data and statistics on hate crimes. Participating States also committed to promptly investigating hate crimes and ensuring that the motives of those convicted of such crimes are acknowledged. To that end, the law enforcement must, as a first step, record the bias motivation of hate crimes. Participating States have further committed to introducing or further developing professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes.
ODIHR stands ready to support Luxembourg in meeting the relevant commitments through its comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as through its comprehensive resources and tailored capacity-building assistance for the police, prosecution, and judiciary.