Civil society is key to addressing hate crime, says OSCE’s human rights office

WARSAW, 16 November 2022 - As it launches its hate crime dataset on today's International Day for Tolerance, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) called on states to deepen their cooperation with civil society organizations working to counter hate and make a greater effort to support victims.

"Hate crimes are devastating for the communities they affect, but they can also destabilise entire societies," said ODIHR Director Matteo Mecacci. "Civil society plays a vital role in addressing hate and intolerance across the OSCE region. Civil society organizations therefore remain an invaluable partner for states in responding to all forms of hatred, and they need to be integrated into every hate crime response from the outset."

Victims of hate often turn to civil society organizations to report a crime, seek support, and access vital services. Through cooperation with state authorities, civil society can provide specialist support for hate crime victims, feed into national policy to combat intolerance and hate, and help boost reporting among targeted communities. By entering into genuine collaboration with civil society, states can develop efficient and targeted activities to tackle hate crime and meet the differing needs of individual victims.

ODIHR's hate crime database is the largest of its kind worldwide. It is updated each year with information from official, civil society and other sources, and includes data on hate crime legislation, recording, prosecution and sentencing, as well as best practices.

Many states would benefit from strengthening their cooperation with civil society organizations working to address hate crime. Civil society groups continue to report thousands of hate crimes to ODIHR each year, despite increasingly limited resources and other challenges. Sadly, and as an acute reminder of the difficulties they face, civil society reported a number of hate incidents specifically targeting civil society activists and other human rights defenders in 2021.

States and civil society should increase their efforts and work together towards a time in which the definition of tolerance goes beyond acceptance to mean true respect and appreciation for pluralism and diversity in our societies, as the Personal Representatives of the OSCE Chair-in-Office on addressing tolerance issues said in their statement today.

ODIHR offers countries across the OSCE region a range of resources and tools to help them support hate crime victims, improve hate crime monitoring and recording practices, and strengthen co-operation with civil society. The full range of ODIHR resources on countering hate crime is available here.