OSCE hate crime report finds continued pattern of violent attacks on minorities

WARSAW, 6 October 2008 - Members of visibly identifiable groups who stand out from majority populations because of their religion, ethnicity or other perceived characteristics remain the target of often brutal physical attacks, says a report on hate crimes in the OSCE region launched today.

The report, compiled by the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and launched at the OSCE's annual human rights and democracy conference in Warsaw, found that many of the hate-motivated incidents were characterized by extreme brutality, frequently resulting in serious injury or death.

"The continuing occurrence of such violent manifestations of hate and intolerance is extremely disturbing. Hate crimes target individuals, but they instil fear in entire communities. This has the potential to destabilize and threaten the security of society as a whole," said Ambassador Lenarcic, Director of the ODIHR.

The 183-page report, which covers incidents reported in 2007, emphasized that data on hate crimes remained patchy and inconsistent across the OSCE region, making it difficult to determine the frequency of hate crimes and which groups were most vulnerable to attack. The report underlined that in particular, hate-motivated incidents against Muslims, Christians, and other religious groups, as well as homophobic hate crimes, continued to be significantly under-reported and under-recorded.

Drawing information from official sources, media reports and non governmental organizations, the report identified several key recurrent patterns. Religious institutions, places of worship and Holocaust memorials were frequent targets of attacks. Damage to Holocaust memorials echoes the emergence of the Holocaust as a rhetorical means to threaten and to offend Jews.

Those defending human rights, in particular the rights of vulnerable groups and minorities, were also victims of hate crimes.

Another alarming phenomenon identified by the report is the frequent occurrence of attacks of a racist, anti-Semitic or xenophobic nature during sporting events.

The report found that "perhaps most disturbing was a trend for high-ranking members of government and mainstream political parties to introduce prejudices against various such groups into the realm of public discussion".

The report does not include a profile of perpetrators of hate crimes, but ODIHR has expressed concern about the evident involvement of loosely organized young people adhering to racist ideologies or more organized hate groups in reported hate crimes. Organized hate groups continue to use the Internet to disseminate their views, to recruit potential members, to incite hate crimes and violence, to threaten groups or individuals, and to co-ordinate their activities at the international level, according to the report.

"Fear provoked by hate crimes undermines the basic human rights for whole communities, including the right to equality, freedom of movement and freedom of religion and belief. It will therefore remain a priority of my office to assist participating States in their endeavours to prevent and to combat hate crimes," said Lenarcic.

ODIHR has developed a wide range of assistance programmes, including support for establishing bodies and mechanisms to improve data collection, training law enforcement officials, and conducting awareness-raising and educational programmes to fight prejudice and intolerance.