Introduction

While international instruments and commitments to tackle racist violence are longstanding and comprehensive, ‘hate crime’ is a relatively new concept in the international criminal justice policy arena. It is quickly gaining ground, appearing in Ministerial Council Decisions of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and research reports published by the European Union's Fundamental Rights Agencies (FRA). However there is a lack of consistency and clarity in the conceptualisation of hate crime, the terminology that is used to describe it and in how it is measured by intergovernmental organisations (IGOs). In addition, diverse social, political and historical contexts across the OSCE and EU regions, impact on terminology, data outcomes and responses in relation to hate crime at the national level, and this has significant implications for the feasibility of acquiring a clear picture of ‘hate crime’ as a concept with global application.

This chapter critically re-explores the case for the hate crime model as a way of understanding and responding to violence, and evaluates the role of policy makers, the academy, IGOs and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in supporting its implementation. Questions about who should be involved in evidencing both our progress in addressing the phenomenon, and the obstacles we continue to face are considered. Finally, current work to provide guidance to OSCE member states on setting up hate crime data collection systems is described and offered as a way forward to support efforts to achieve a common approach to evidencing hate crime at the international level.

The hate crime evidence gap in international focus

Successive OSCE annual hate crime reports reveal significant gaps in data on hate crime (OSCE: 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011). The 2011 report, Hate Crimes in the OSCE Region: Incidents and Responses, reveals that while 50 out of 56 participating states report that they collect data, only 25 states submitted any for publication (OSCE, 2012: 6). Where data is submitted, numbers range from below ten incidents to 44,519 from the UK (OSCE, 2012: 23, 25). At the national level, comparable information from across the criminal justice system is rarely collected and police and prosecution systems may collect information on different types of hate crimes.