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Hate crime. I had the honour to represent civil society last week at the Fundamental Rights Agency conference on combatting hate crime in the EU during a panel discussion on what kind of legislation is needed in the EU to combat hate crime.

Just to be clear from the outset, we are talking about crime. In most EU countries this includes act of intimidation, threats, property damage, assault, and murder.

Now the difference between hate crime and other crimes is that the perpetrator intentionally chooses the victim because of some identified characteristic (belonging to an ethnic group, religion, gender, age group, having a disability or presumed or identified sexual orientation). It might be the only reason why you become a victim of a crime that can possibly end your life. Even worse – if possible – this would also go beyond yourself: in the end, what is targeted is the group you belong to. This raises fear among communities.

Now tell me one thing: is there a more tolerated hate than others when it comes to hate crime? Hate is hate and there is no better hate than others.

The EU has adopted in 2008 a framework decision on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law. This is excellent and it needs to be thoroughly implemented in the member states. Crime motivated by racism or xenophobia is not acceptable in Europe.

The EU also adopted last year a directive on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, whatever the crime might be. This is another excellent law to ensure that victims benefit from all the necessary support they need.

The question however relates to the perpetrator. The victims may be recognised by the victims’ directive as a victim of hate crime while the perpetrator may not be identified as a criminal who deliberately targeted the victim because of the identified characteristic. We should not forget that the main purpose of law is to clearly state what is and what is not acceptable in our society.

This legislation gap creates double standards depending on the hate’s motivation: racism and xenophobia will lead to aggravated circumstances that will increase the penalty of the crime. All the other grounds (gender, disability, sex, age, sexual orientation, social status as defined in the article 21 of the fundamental rights charter) are not included at the moment in aggravating circumstances at EU level (but do exist in some member states such as Belgium).

We want to put an end to this double standard to send a clear message: hate crime on any grounds is not acceptable in Europe. Hate crime legislation is there to protect the physical security and lives of those who seek greater equality in our society. We don’t mind that certain people in our society disagree with our struggles for greater equality in Europe, but what we don’t accept is that lives are threatened. That cannot be allowed.

We therefore want an EU law that ensures that perpetrators are systematically identified, prosecuted, and engaged in restorative justice or punished.

Let’s engage!

Pierre Baussand, Director