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The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted Resolution 24/26, which expresses concern about the rise of extremist political parties, groups and movements that incite racial hatred and violence, and condemned the use of media, including the Internet, to incite hatred and violence.

In its “Report on the Implementation of the Framework Decision on Combating Racism and Xenophobia by Means of Criminal Law”, the European Union Commission assessed how individual EU Member States take bias motivation into account in criminal proceedings and sentencing for hate crimes, and made suggestions as to how the implementation of the Framework Decision could be strengthened.

The thematic situation report on “Racism, Discrimination, Intolerance and Extremism: Learning from experiences in Greece and Hungary”, published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), collected and analysed information from both countries, and presented EU Member States with a number of suggested good practices in combating racism, discrimination, intolerance and extremism.

In the “Council Conclusions on Combating Hate Crime in the European Union”, adopted by the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union, EU Member States were invited to adopt hate crime laws; ensure the prompt investigation and prosecution of hate crimes; facilitate hate crime reporting; collect hate crime data; and promote training of practitioners working with hate crime victims. The Council also invite the European Commission to assess EU legislation on hate crimes, and to report back to the Council.

The Fundamental Rights Conference, organized by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in Vilnius in November, focused on combating hate crimes in the EU. The conference concluded with a number of recommendations to EU Member States.

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo  organized a training seminar on combating hate crimes and hate-motivated incidents for 16 civil society representatives from different communities in the Prishtinë/Priština region. The OSCE Mission also trained around 150 Municipal Communities Safety Councils members in identifying and responding to hate crimes and incidents.

Throughout the year, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe repeatedly warned against the rise of racist hate crimes, as well as about criminal justice policies that have a discriminatory impact on minorities, such as racial profiling. On a number of occasions, he addressed the issue of racism in political discourse, including the challenge presented by the existence of extremist political parties.

In its Human Rights Comment, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe recommended that states provide anti-racism training to all law enforcement officials, prosecutors and judges, and that they be particularly vigilant concerning racist extremism within law enforcement authorities.

In his “Report on the Implementation of General Assembly resolution 66/143”, the United Nations Special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance noted the lack of sufficient data-collection mechanisms and the absence of official statistics on hate crimes, and urged states to collect data on racist and xenophobic incidents, while involving victims of hate crimes and civil society. He further recommended strengthening police capacity to address racist and xenophobic crimes, and to actively engage with those groups and individuals who are particularly vulnerable to racist acts by extremist individuals or groups.

The OSCE High-level Conference on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination, which took place in Tirana in May 2013, recommended that participating States adopt a comprehensive approach to combating intolerance and discrimination, including hate crimes committed on the grounds of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities or other status.

The “Opinion on the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia” of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights’ (FRA) analysed the impact of the Framework Decision on the rights of victims and discussed the protection of victims’ rights as guaranteed under EU law. The FRA Opinion identifies 25 actions to be taken to improve conditions for hate crime victims.

In its Decision No. 4/13 on “Enhancing OSCE Efforts to Implement the Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti within the OSCE Region, with a Particular Focus on Roma and Sinti Women, Youth and Children”, the OSCE Ministerial Council called on participating States to publicly condemn violence against Roma and Sinti; build police capacity to identify, collect data on, investigate and prosecute hate crimes against Roma and Sinti; and support civil society in representing and assisting Roma and Sinti victims of hate crimes.

The Final Report of the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Implementation of the Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti included suggestions made by some participants that a new Action Plan be drafted to better address racist and violent attacks on Roma and Sinti.

In its Decision No. 3/13 on “Freedom of Thought, Conscience, Religion or Belief”, the OSCE Ministerial Council called on participating States to prevent intolerance, violence and discrimination on the basis of religion or belief, including against Christians, Jews, Muslims and members of other religions, as well as against non-believers; condemn violence and discrimination on religious grounds; prevent and protect against attacks directed at persons or groups based on thought, conscience, religion or belief; and protect religious sites from vandalism and destruction.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe expressed concern about violent attacks against religious communities and individuals. The Assembly urged states to condemn, combat and bring to justice cases of violence committed against individuals owing to their religion or beliefs.

At its session dealing with the rights of religious minorities, the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Forum on Minority Issues recommended that states provide for the proper documentation and prosecution of cases of intimidation, attacks or communal violence against members of religious minorities.

The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted Resolution 22/31 on combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence, and violence against persons based on religion or belief.

The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted Resolution 22/20 on freedom of religion or belief, which condemns acts of violence based on religion or belief and urges states to diligently prevent, investigate and punish such acts.

In his report, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief advocated the implementation by the states of the Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.

The European Commission supported the publication by a number of civil society organizations of a toolkit that aimed to provide police with practical tools in working with LGBT victims of crime.

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published the findings of a survey on LGBT victims of hate crime. The survey revealed that LGBT respondents have been subject to high levels of repeated victimization and violence, which was particularly high among transgender respondents.

In his “Report on the Implementation of General Assembly Resolution 67/154”, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance expressed concerns about the targeting of people on the basis of their sexual orientation.

In his annual report, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted the launch in 2013 of the Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. It also noted the launch of the global Free & Equal campaign, designed to raise awareness of homophobic and transphobic discrimination and violence.

The Expert Conference on Addressing the Security Needs of Jewish Communities in the OSCE Region, organized by ODIHR, recommended that participating States provide Jewish communities with protection and financial support for their security needs, co-operate in emergency planning and deepen co-operation to build trust, exchange security-relevant information and compile hate crime data.