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Hate crime against Christians and members of other religions

Hate crime targeting individuals on the basis of religion can take various forms. The extent and nature of attacks motivated by bias against a particular religion are influenced by a number of factors, including the minority or majority status of that religion in a given territory. Successive ODIHR hate crime reports have indicated that graffiti and vandalism against places of worship, the desecration of cemeteries and arson attacks against churches are some of the more common types of crimes motivated by bias against Christians and members of other religions.

Beginning in 2004, a number of OSCE ministerial council decisions and declarations have included specific commitments on and references to the importance of combating prejudice, intolerance and discrimination against Christians and members of other religions.
Some participating States disaggregate data on anti-religious hate crime into sub-categories, such as "non-denominational", "Catholic", "Protestant", "other religions", or "Jehovah's witnesses". The Holy See also collects information on hate incidents based on bias against Christians through its network of regional representatives. This information is submitted by ODIHR to authorities in the respective participating States for verification and information on the status of investigation and of hate motive.
OSCE participating States collect varying types of information, which is then reported and presented under the heading of this bias motivation. For some states, the number of cases reported here may cover all hate crimes committed with an anti-religious bias (including anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim). In other cases, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes are reported under specific bias categories and, thus not included in the overall figure for crimes committed with an anti-religious bias. Some participating States report only crimes committed against Christians. As a consequence of these differences, the data presented under this bias category require caution, as comparison based on numbers of cases alone may not be accurate.
For these reasons, this category of hate crimes has been used until 2016, when ODIHR further disaggregated its reporting. From this year on, Anti-Christian Hate Crime and Other Hate Crime Based on Religion or Belief are presented as separate categories.

ODIHR TANDIS

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States that report

No Information is available.

Overview of incidents reported by other sources

Violent attacks against people Threats/Harassment Attacks against property Total
No data available.
Date Country Type of incident Source Description
No data available.

International Reports

No information is available.

Related publications

OSCE pubs pic.png
Ministerial Council decision no. 3/13: Freeedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief
6 December 2013
ODIHR tree pubs pic.png
Summary report of High-Level Meeting on Preventing and Responding to Hate Incidents and Crimes against Christians
18 October 2011
osce odihr logo.png
Final report of the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Freedom of Religion and Belief: Fostering mutual respect and understanding
11 December 2015

Bias Motivations

  • Racist and xenophobic hate crime
    • Background
    • States that report
    • Reports
    • International Reports
    • Related publications
  • Anti-Roma hate crime
    • Background
    • States that report
    • Reports
    • International Reports
    • Related publications
  • Anti-Semitic hate crime
    • Background
    • States that report
    • Reports
    • International Reports
    • Related publications
  • Anti-Muslim hate crime
    • Background
    • States that report
    • Reports
    • International Reports
    • Related publications
  • Anti-Christian hate crime
    • Background
    • States that report
    • Reports
    • International Reports
    • Related publications
  • Other hate crime based on religion or belief
    • Background
    • States that report
    • Reports
    • International Reports
    • Related publications
  • Gender-based hate crime
    • Background
    • States that report
    • Reports
    • International Reports
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  • Anti-LGBTI hate crime
    • Background
    • States that report
    • Reports
    • International Reports
    • Related publications
  • Disability hate crime
    • Background
    • States that report
    • Reports
    • International Reports
    • Related publications

Contact Us

Email tndinfo@odihr.pl
Tel +48 22 520 06 00
Fax +48 22 520 06 05
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department
Ul. Miodowa 10
00-251
Warsaw, Poland

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