The breakdown below may include offences that fall outside the OSCE hate crime definition. One criminal incident may be recorded with more than one bias motivation in the breakdown below.
In 2023, the Ministry of Justice published a key issue paper on legal protections against digital violence. The German Government worked closely with civil society organizations (CSOs) to deliver projects on this issue including one by HateAid that deals with new developments in the field of digital violence. The 2023 project focused on new forms of digital violence, including deepfakes, phishing and shadow banning. Germany's Federal Ministry of Justice and the departments of justice of the Länder participated in a working group on the topic of "Online services for reporting hate crime / hate comments for citizens", which examined measures to improve online reporting of hate crimes.
In June 2023, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community of Germany, in co-operation with ODIHR and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, organized a hate crime data workshop o review the existing hate crime recording and data collection framework and identify gaps. The workshop brought together representatives of agencies directly involved in hate crime recording in Germany, including: police officers responsible for hate crime recording and investigations from the Criminal Police Offices of the German States (Länder) (LKA); representatives of the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA); representatives of the Federal Ministry of Interior; representatives of the Federal Ministry of Justice; prosecutors from Berlin state; representatives of other state institutions; and two civil society organizations (RIAS and MANEO). Following the workshop, ODIHR and FRA prepared a report summarizing the main issues and measures to improve hate crime recording in Germany, as identified by workshop participants.
In line with the Network Enforcement Act (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, NetzDG), social media companies are required to install notice and takedown mechanisms for illegal online content, including hate speech. Following complaints by users, the providers must remove illegal content immediately. To enforce the NetzDG, the Federal Office of Justice can issue regulatory fines in response to any systemic breaches against the provisions of the NetzDG. Consequently, in 2023 the Federal Office of Justice opened two formal proceedings against the social media company 'X'. However, the proceedings were suspended as the provisions of the NetzDG may not be in line with the law of the European Union (in line with the European Court of Justice ruling on the compliance of the Austrian Kommunikationsplattformen-Gesetz with the principle of control in the home Member State (Article 3(4) and (5) of Directive 2000/31/EC) (Judgment on 9 November 2023, C‑376/22)).
ODIHR recognizes Germany's efforts to enhance hate crime data collection and recording, as well as efforts to address hate crimes online. However, based on the available information, it observes that Germany has not reported data on hate crimes recorded by the prosecution and judiciary to ODIHR. In addition, ODIHR observes that Germany would benefit from raising awareness among and building the capacity of law enforcement and criminal justice officials to combat hate crimes.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, OSCE participating States committed to collect reliable data and statistics in sufficient detail on hate crimes and to report such crimes periodically to ODIHR. Participating States also committed to introduce or further develop professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution, and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes. ODIHR stands ready to support Germany in meeting its relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as by providing further resources and tailored capacity-building assistance for police, prosecution, and judiciary.
In addition to incidents submitted with detailed descriptions, this chart includes the following incidents reported as statistics: 279 anti-LGBTI incidents reported by MANEO; 750 anti-Semitic incidents reported by the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS); 318 anti-Semitic, 1,437 racist and xenophobic, 245 anti-LGBTI, and 14 disability hate incidents reported by the Association of Counseling Centers for Victims of Right-wing, Racist and Antisemitic Violence in Germany (VBRG).
🛈 Please note that the data in the charts above are based on voluntary civil society submissions and as such might not be representative of the actual number of incidents affecting individual communities.
🛈 Please note that the total number of incidents may be lower than the sum of incidents presented in the breakdown chart above, as some incidents involve multiple bias motivations.
🛈 ODIHR no longer presents descriptions of property attacks in the incident tables below. Data on property attacks are presented in the breakdown charts above. One property attack may target multiple properties or involve multiple types of attack.