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Racism and xenophobia
Racism is prejudice or hostility towards a person's race, colour, language, nationality, or national or ethnic origin. While some communities are particularly vulnerable, any ethnic group can be the target of racism. Intolerant discourse in the media or from politicians can lead to increased racist sentiments towards migrants and other minorities, including in the form of scapegoating in times of economic crisis. ODIHR's annual reporting on hate crime in the OSCE area has demonstrated that racist attacks can take a range of forms, targeting people from diverse groups across the region. Violent attacks by groups of perpetrators against migrants and ethnic minorities, as well as damage to businesses and property owned by or associated with established ethnic communities are common features of this type of crime.
The OSCE has long recognized the threat to international security posed by racism, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance. Participating States condemned racial and ethnic hatred as early 1990. At the Ministerial Council meeting in Maastricht in 2003, participating States committed themselves to combat hate crimes fuelled by racist or xenophobic propaganda and to publicly denounce such crimes.
Most participating States reported that they record hate crime data according to at least one category related to racism and xenophobia, such as "race"/colour, nationality/ethnicity/national origin, citizenship or language. The differences in recording and reporting policies among participating States present a number of challenges for ODIHR when interpreting and verifying information received. Data from different participating States can be incomparable due, for example, to inconsistencies about which groups are legally protected and monitored. There is also a risk that the same data might be double counted in general statistics. For example, anti-Semitic hate crime might be reported separately or included under the broader category of racist hate crime, or both. While the number of NGOs reporting to ODIHR has increased, victims' negative experiences in police responses and a lack of capacity of NGOs to monitor and report on the phenomenon contribute to the problem of under-reporting.
SELECT YEAR
International Reports
Austria
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the ninth periodic report of Austria."
Czech Republic
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the combined twelfth and thirteenth periodic reports of Czechia."
Estonia
The United Nations Human Rights Committee published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of Estonia."
Finland
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "Fifth Report on Finland."
Georgia
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "Conclusions on the implementation of the recommendations in respect of Georgia."
Greece
The United Nations Committee against Torture published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of Greece."
Iceland
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the combined twenty-first to twenty-third periodic reports of Iceland."
Ireland
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "Fifth Report on Ireland."
Latvia
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "Fifth Report on Latvia."
Lithuania
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "Conclusions on the implementation of the recommendations in respect of Lithuania."
The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers published relevant recommendations in its "Resolution on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities by Lithuania."
North Macedonia
The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers published relevant recommendations in its "Resolution on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities by the Republic of North Macedonia."
Mongolia
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the combined twenty-third and twenty-fourth periodic reports of Mongolia."
Netherlands
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "Fifth Report on the Netherlands."
The United Nations Human Rights Committee published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of the Netherlands."
Poland
The United Nations Committee against Torture published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of Poland."
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the combined twenty-second to twenty-fourth periodic reports of Poland."
Romania
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "Fifth Report on Romania."
Russian Federation
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "Fifth Report on the Russian Federation."
Slovakia
The United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) published relevant recommendations in its "Report from the Thirty-second session: Compilation of UN information on Slovakia."
OSCE Region
The European Union Committee of the Regions published relevant recommendations in its "Resolution of the European Committee of the Regions on Combatting Hate Speech and Hate Crime."
The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers published relevant recommendations in its "Resolution on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in Kosovo."
The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly published relevant recommendations in its "Resolution Stop hate speech and acts of hatred in sport."
The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published relevant recommendations in its "Fundamental Rights Report 2019: FRA opinions."
Related publications
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Guide to Addressing Hate Crime at the Regional Level
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Final report of the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting I "Policies and strategies to further promote tolerance and non-discrimination"
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Report of the fact-finding meeting: hate-motivated incidents targeting migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in the OSCE region
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Final report of the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Combating Racism, Intolerance and Discrimination in Society through Sport
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Final report of the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting "Prevention of Racism, Xenophobia and Hate Crimes through Educational and Awareness-Raising Initiatives"
