Conference on enhancing efforts to prevent and combat intolerance and discrimination against Christians, focusing on hate crimes, exclusion, marginalisation and denial of rights

Discrimination and intolerance threaten the security of individuals and may give rise to wider scale conflict and violence that undermine international stability and security. OSCE participating States share a broad range of commitments to combat racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, discrimination and intolerance, including against Muslims, Christians, and Jews and to prevent and respond to hate crimes. While underlining the importance of a comprehensive approach to address discrimination and hate crimes, OSCE participating States have also acknowledged specificities of different forms of intolerance, including against Christians and members of other religions.

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office first specifically mentioned intolerance against Christians in a declaration emerging from the 2005 Cordoba Conference; this was followed by a number of Ministerial Council Decisions that sought to develop an Organization-wide response for countering discrimination and intolerance against Christians.

Additionally, ODIHR’s annual hate crime reporting on Hate Crimes in the OSCE Region-Incidents and Response document that lack of confidence in respective criminal justice systems contribute towards the under-reporting of hate crimes and hate incidents against Christians in the OSCE region. This is clearly expressed by participants and representatives of Christian communities at a variety of ODIHR events including hate crime training workshops where they repeatedly raised concerns that physical and verbal assaults as well as the desecration of Christian sites and monuments are often not reported to the police or other relevant authorities. In some instances, perceived discrimination against them in state registration procedures compounds already fraught relations between Christian communities and state regulatory agencies.

With its expertise on hate crimes, the OSCE is well positioned to provide a forum for a discussion on this topic. Building on the existing commitments, this Conference will provide a forum where government officials, non-governmental organizations and representatives from Christian communities can explore challenges, share examples of good practices and make recommendations on how to address underreporting of hate crimes targeting Christians.