Belgium regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR. Belgium's Criminal Code includes several penalty-enhancement provisions for specific offences. The data reported to ODIHR do not present cases of hate crime, incitement to hatred and discrimination separately. Hate crime data are collected by law enforcement agencies and the Prosecutor's Office. The Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities and against Racism (Unia) and the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men also monitor hate crimes.
Hate crimes are not defined as such in Belgian legislation. Therefore, a specific code with which to record such crimes as a "hate crime" does not exist. Any violation of the non-discrimination laws that constitutes a criminal offence is registered in a general way as "discrimination" by the police or by the prosecutor's office. The databases of the police or the prosecutor's offices do not specify whether the incident is a hate crime or consists of discrimination.
The recording of discrimination and hate crimes is based on instructions that are published in a joint circular for police forces and public prosecutors. This "Circular on the investigation and prosecution policy on discrimination and hate crimes (including discrimination based on sex)" of 2013 (COL 13/2013) provides a policy framework to combat discrimination and hate crimes.
Among other things, COL 13/2013 provides instructions for the police and the prosecutor's office on how to correctly register discrimination and hate crimes. When police discover an offence, the base crime is registered under the appropriate thematic code. If, in addition, police discover that the motive behind the offence is racist, xenophobic, sexist, homophobic or against persons with a disability, the motive will be marked in the context field for the public prosecutor's office as a case of "discrimination and hate crime". The crimes where a motive is indicated in the context field are registered in the data processing systems. This is "ISLP" in most local police districts and "FEEDIS" in most entities of the federal police.
The magistrate to whom the report is submitted checks to see whether the secondary prevention code is correct. If the motive is found not to be discriminatory based on the abovementioned criteria, this remark will be crossed out. If an examination of the relevant facts shows that the motive is indeed one of the criteria protected by the law and that the secondary prevention code has not been mentioned, it will be added at the initiative of the magistrate of the public prosecutor's office.
Statistical data concerning discrimination are collected and provided by the College of Prosecutors-General based on the REA/TPI system or the IT-system "MaCH" used by the public prosecution.
The numbers below represent all incidents recorded by the police and sent to the criminal prosecutor's office.
In 2019, the Police of Antwerp provided specialized support and reception of victims of hate crime. The Police of Charleroi drafted an information leaflet for victims of hate crime, with information on obtaining support from Belgium's equality bodies (Unia and the Institute of equality between women and men). This initiative has been followed by other local police units. Furthermore, the Police of La Louvière developed a brochure for local police officers explaining how to handle hate crime cases. In 2018 and 2019, several local police unites developed a model "procès verbal" (a written record of an official proceeding), in order to register hate incidents in the correct manner. A group was also set up via Yammer (a corporate social network) where contact police officers listed in the Circular on the investigation and prosecution policy on discrimination and hate crimes (COL13/2013) can network and share information online. The Federal Police created a SharePoint page where relevant knowledge and information about COL13/2013 will be made available for police officers.
Following recommendations made by the EU FRA and ODIHR at a January 2020 workshop on registering hate crimes and offences, a working group composed of representatives of the Equal Opportunities Team (SPF Justice), the police, the judiciary and Unia was set up to optimize the registration of hate crimes. The aim of this working group is to provide solutions to the various problems regarding hate crime registration in Belgium, including: the absence of an obligation to systematically register all hate crimes at the police level; the technical impossibility of registering cases of multiple discrimination (hate crimes on the basis of several protected criteria); and the lack of a system to automatically transmit information about hate crimes registered by police to the IT systems of the judiciary and the Central Criminal Records Office.
No information is available.
The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published relevant recommendations in its 2019 Roma and Travellers Survey findings, "Roma and Travellers in six countries."
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "Sixth report on Belgium."
ODIHR observes that Belgium has not reported on cases of hate crimes separately from cases of hate speech or discrimination.