A report on hate crimes in 2010, “Hate Crimes in the OSCE Region: Incidents and Responses,” was released on Nov. 16, 2011 by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
on hate crime statistics from 33 countries. It concluded that the global economic crisis is contributing to hate crimes by angry and frustrated people. Open for full report.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is an intergovernmental group chartered by the United Nations that promotes security and human rights. Its 56-member nations in the northern hemisphere include the United States.
Janez Lenarcic, the OSCE’s director for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, said, “It is extremely worrying that bias-motivated violence continues seemingly unabated in our region.”
In one example, police in Sweden’s third-largest city of Malmo reported 21 anti-Semitic crimes in the first six months of 2011, compared with 20 in all of 2010. A top police official acknowledged in a radio interview the actual number is probably higher.
The Swedish government set aside $600,000 in September to increase security around Jewish synagogues.
In France, police are reporting a rise in the number of Jewish tombstones defaced with swastikas.
As the OSCE announced its report on rising hate crimes, the group also complained about the lack of cooperation by its member nations in collecting data. "Significant gaps in data collection remain a major obstacle to understanding the prevalence and nature of hate crimes within most participating states and across the OSCE as a region." "A number of participating states do not collect any statistics at all on hate crimes. Some participating states collect data, but do not make the data public."
Despite periodic pledges by member nations to increase reporting, there remains a need to create a uniform standard for hate crimes reporting and to get nations in the 56-member OSCE to comply.
"Seven years ago in Berlin, the OSCE countries pledged with great urgency to gather data on anti-Semitic crimes,” Abraham Foxman, the ADL's national director, said in a statement. ”Yet only four of those governments have provided information on incidents for the OSCE’s report. Without this basic monitoring, how can any government demonstrate that they are serious about addressing it?”
The ADL and Human Rights First issued a joint analysis this week of the OSCE's report, breaking down how member nations fail to report hate crimes.
Only 31 out of 56 countries "submitted questionnaires for the year 2010, one less than last year and significantly less than the 47 questionnaires that were submitted two years ago," said the analysis.
Even fewer states gather data on anti-Semitic incidents, this submitted by only 20 of 56 participating states. In 26 of the countries where no data was submitted, a number of anti-Semitic incidents were reported by media, Jewish communities and other non-governmental sources. The limited reporting that does exist shows that Jews and other minorities continue to be targeted for bias crimes.
Moreover, the analysis showed that among participating states reporting was inadequate.
"Two countries reported that they do not collect any data on hate crimes, and six states reported fewer than twenty incidents nationally," it said. "Even countries that have made efforts to establish more robust monitoring systems generally do not disaggregate the data" to show which groups are targeted by hate crimes and which crimes are violent and which involve other violations, including incitement and discrimination.
Mr. Foxman of the ADL said "We renew our call to all OSCE governments to take action to move their countries forward in the fight against hate crime." "This is not just for the sake of the victims – all communities, all societies have a stake in improving the response to hate crimes."
Further Reading:
A pan-European legal task force to fight anti-Semitism
87 Countries Agree to Combat Anti-Semitism
It is dangerous for a Jewish girl to go to school in Brussels these days
Annual Israel-EU seminar on the fight against anti-Semitism and xenophobia
Report on Italian Anti-Semitism released by the Italian Parliament.
The Swedish government finally acts to protect local Jews from hate
As Anti-Semitism Rises, More of Belgium’s Jews Immigrate to Israel
