Hate Crime Factsheets

Hate crimes motivated by racism and xenophobia can take a range of forms, targeting people from diverse groups across the OSCE region. While some communities are particularly vulnerable, any ethnic or racial group can be the target of racism.

Anti-Semitism has affected Jewish communities for millennia, and found its most brutal expression in the Holocaust, during which millions of Jews were murdered. Despite the lesson of this horrific event, anti-Semitism continues to plague Jewish communities to this day, from conspiracy theories to violent attacks. Too often, this intolerance can morph into hate crimes against Jews. The impact of these crimes can be that Jewish individuals fear attending worship services, wearing religious attire or symbols, or abstain from identifying publicly as Jews either culturally or in religious identity. Anti-Semitism affects not only Jews, but society as a whole. Its existence underscores wider trends of intolerance towards other groups, and everyone has a role to play in countering thisand all forms of intolerance.

Muslim communities across the OSCE region are the victims of rhetoric that often associates them with terrorism and extremism, or portrays the presence of Muslim communities as a threat to national identity. Muslims are often portrayed as a monolithic group, whose religion and culture are incompatible with the concepts of human rights and democracy. This intolerance, left unchecked, can enable a climate that fosters hate crime against Muslims, which is an attempt to isolate them from society. Only a strong response from all actors in society can effectively challenge discrimination, intolerance and hate crimes against Muslims.