Governments must do more to address anti-Semitic hate crime, say participants at OSCE/ODIHR workshop

More than 30 representatives of civil society, Jewish communities and international organizations from across the OSCE region discussed prevention efforts and responses to anti-Semitic hate crime at a workshop organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 20 April 2015 in Vienna.

During the workshop, participants explored the impacts of anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish communities in the wake of recent attacks in Paris and Copenhagen, to identify features of anti-Semitic hate crime and areas for closer collaboration between Jewish communities and governments in preventing, and responding to anti-Semitic hate crime.

"We want to build on civil society’s wealth of expertise and critical first-hand information about this issue. By doing so, we can learn more about addressing anti-Semitic hate crime and strengthen states' capacities to prevent it," said Cristina M. Finch, Head of ODIHR's Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department. "ODIHR has an important role to play in fostering effective channels of communication between governments and Jewish communities."

Robin Sclafani, Director of CEJI-A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe, said: "Governments and civil society need to work together on preventing the escalation of anti-Semitism and hatred of all kinds. This requires mainstreaming citizenship and diversity education into curricula, as well as supporting more civic engagement for social cohesion. The work of ODHIR to facilitate such co-operation is an important contribution to the policy decisions which need to be made."

Today's workshop builds on the work accomplished during the Berlin Plus Ten high-level event on anti-Semitism, held in November 2014, and the Declaration on Enhancing Efforts to Combat Anti-Semitism adopted by OSCE participating States during the December 2014 Basel Ministerial Council Meeting.