Intolerance against Muslims in any form — be it violence, discrimination, harassment or online abuse — has a detrimental effect on the lives of Muslim individuals and communities. Each hate crime sends a message of otherness or exclusion that can generate a sense of fear and insecurity at both the individual and community levels. Anti-Muslim hate incidents against mosques and Islamic institutions send a broader message of intolerance and non-acceptance to all community members, and can contribute to an environment in which not only Muslims, but also other minority communities may feel increasingly insecure.

ODIHR has been actively working on combating intolerance against Muslims, focusing on facilitating inter-agency co-operation, awareness-raising and training opportunities for and among state and non-state actors. Understanding Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes - Addressing the Security Needs of Muslim Communities: A Practical Guide is designed to assist governments in preventing and addressing hate crimes, including by an analysis of security risks and the necessary actions required, with the aim of improving the capacity of the police and other institutions to meet the security needs of Muslim communities.

ODIHR, together with the General Secretariat of Religious Affairs (GSRA) and the MOHA Research Center, organized an event to launch the Practical Guide and discuss its applicability and customization in Greece. The participants explored the possibilities for creating a comprehensive response together with the relevant local, national and international stakeholders to address intolerance, discrimination and hate crimes against Muslims in Greece. The meeting gathered participants from the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, the Ministry for Citizens’ Protection, the Ministry of Justice, the Hellenic Police, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the MOHA Research Center, the Muslim communities of Thrace including the Muftis of Komotini and Xanthi, the President of the Religious Committee of the Mosque of Athens and representatives of civil society and academic institutions.

Hate crimes challenge the very values that free, democratic and inclusive societies are built on, and thereby undermine societal stability and security. OSCE participating States have committed to address hate crimes by, among other actions, enacting and enforcing legislation that provides criminal sanctions appropriate to the gravity of such crimes, and collecting, processing and publishing reliable hate crime data. Further, participating States have committed to address under-reporting and build the capacity of law enforcement, prosecution and judicial officials to facilitate the prevention, investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.

Fulfilling these commitments and addressing hate crimes in an effective manner is a complex process that can be improved by the close co-operation of all relevant stakeholders in the country. Building on the interest of the Cypriot Ombudsperson, ODIHR helped to establish a Working Group consisting of representatives of the Ombudsperson’s Office, the Police, the Attorney General’s Office, the University of Cyprus and representatives of civil society organizations working to address hate crime and discrimination. The participants in the Working Group’s first meeting on 26 November discussed good practices in inter-agency co-operation across the OSCE area, and explored modalities to overcome current gaps through better collaboration. Group discussions focused on hate crime laws, recording and data collection, victim support, and flagging and prosecuting hate crimes. All those present showed a willingness to accommodate other agencies’ requests and to improve their co-operation.

In September 2021, ODIHR continued its co-operation with the World Jewish Congress and the European Commission Coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life and organized events aimed at raising awareness among law enforcement officials about Jewish history and culture and improving effective communication. Events held in Latvia (on 17 September) and Lithuania (on 22 September) helped to strengthen understanding of the contemporary security challenges facing the Jewish community, including those stemming from anti-Semitic conspiracy theories or anti-Semitic bias, and facilitated effective and meaningful communication between representatives of the Jewish community and law enforcement units across Latvia and Lithuania.

The COVID-19 pandemic has added layers of complexity to addressing intolerance and discrimination. The health crisis has led to the tragic loss of life and had a deep impact on economic security. It has also led to violations of human rights, including incidents of racist scapegoating in some countries, hateful rhetoric in the digital space, and threats and physical attacks against members of minority groups blamed for the origin and spread of the virus. ODIHR, in co-operation with the Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience at Rutgers University, hosted a panel discussion on restoring and improving co-operation and co-ordination between government agencies, including law enforcement, and civil society and minority communities. During the event, participants explored good practices around building communities of trust in the present and during future stages of the pandemic and other crises.

ODIHR has embarked on developing a specific tool that supports participating States in their efforts to address the security needs of Roma and Sinti, and improve states’ legal, policy and political response to anti-Roma and Sinti hate crime. The tool, developed jointly by ODIHR’s Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues and Tolerance and Non-Discrimination departments, will be a publication titled Addressing the Security Needs of Roma and Sinti: A Practical Guide. It will assist Roma and Sinti activists, government officials and parliamentarians to be better equipped to address the security needs of Roma and Sinti. Having developed the initial draft, ODIHR has invited renowned experts on security, hate crimes, hate speech and discrimination against Roma and Sinti to provide their input and contribute to the development of the Practical Guide.

At the invitation of the Italian authorities, ODIHR’s Director participated in an event on the adoption of national guidelines for teachers on addressing anti-Semitism in schools. The event was co-organized by the Ministry of Education of Italy, with the participation of the Minister, and the National Coordinator on Combatting Antisemitism. ODIHR’s Teaching Aids on Addressing Anti-Semitism through Education, recently translated into Italian, were presented, as well as their role in supporting the process of implementing the newly adopted domestic guidelines and the wider national strategy on combating anti-Semitism in Italy. ODIHR will continue to support the Italian authorities and work together on addressing anti-Semitism through education.

The workshop introduced civil society organizations working on hate crime monitoring and victim support in Malta to ODIHR’s hate crime methodology, and explored its applicability in the national context. Participants discussed the problems of intolerance and discrimination in Malta, reviewed the OSCE’s concept of hate crime, including bias indicators, explored the relevant international and national human rights legal frameworks, and learned about ODIHR’s annual hate crime reporting. Further, participants discussed their efforts to monitor, report and address hate crimes, sharing challenges and good practices in the recording and reporting of hate crimes. They also had the opportunity to work through case studies to apply this knowledge, and were introduced to ODIHR’s Practical Guide on Coalition Building for Tolerance and Non-Discrimination.

In December 2021, a collection of resources on Education to Address Intolerance and Discrimination was made available on ODIHR’s Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Information System (TANDIS). TANDIS provides information on issues related to tolerance and non-discrimination from across the OSCE region, including positive initiatives and good practices. The collection, created as part of ODIHR’s WiA project, aims to provide education policymakers and practitioners, including teachers, teacher trainers and civil society representatives, with resources and materials on measures to address intolerance and discrimination in and through education, including information on international frameworks.

The USC Shoah Foundation built a webpage on their IWitness platform to showcase the educational resources published by ODIHR and UNESCO, namely Addressing Anti-Semitism through Education: Training Curricula, and Addressing anti-Semitism through Education: Guidelines for Policymakers. The webpage was launched on 14 December and you can access it here.

On 20-21 October 2021, through the co-operation of its WiA project, its Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues and its Advancing the Human Dimension of Security in Ukraine project, ODIHR delivered a coalition building online workshop to members of civil society organizations that are part of the Roma Coalition in Ukraine. The aim of the workshop was to increase the coalition’s capacity to effectively advocate for better protection of the human rights of Roma. The event included interactive presentations and plenary work focused on the advocacy process and coalition building, developing the vision of the coalition and mapping stakeholders.

Through the WiA project, ODIHR works with policymakers and educators, organizes awareness-raising events and disseminates education tools, guidance and good practices on addressing intolerance. It also supports civil society action on anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination, including through capacity-building and the facilitation of coalitions.
On 29 October 2021, following an invitation from the Kreuzberg Initiative against Antisemitism (KIgA) and the European Network for Countering Antisemitism through Education (ENCATE), ODIHR presented its publications and tools on education to address anti-Semitism and coalition building to members of the network.
ENCATE, established by KIgA, is a civil society network that aims to address contemporary anti-Semitism through education. The members are European non-profit organizations working to educate society about/against contemporary and historical aspects of anti-Semitism.
The ODIHR presentation included an overview of the content and purpose of the following publications:

• Addressing Anti-Semitism through Education: Guidelines for Policymakers (ODIHR/UNESCO, 2018);
• Coalition Building for Tolerance and Non-Discrimination: A Practical Guide (ODIHR, 2018)
• Addressing anti-Semitism through Education: Teaching Aids (ODIHR, 2019)
• Addressing anti-Semitism in Schools: Training Curricula (ODIHR/UNESCO, 2020)

The event led to an exchange of ideas with participants on effective strategies to address prejudice and discrimination.
In 2022, in co-operation with KIgA and ENCATE, ODIHR will organize an international workshop on coalition building. 

• 20 January: Raising Awareness and Building Effective Communication between Law Enforcement Authorities and the Jewish Community in Estonia. Event organized together with the European Commission (EC) & the World Jewish Congress (WJC).

Turning Words into Action to Address Intolerance

tel.: +48 22 520 0600 | fax: +48 22 520 0605 | e-mail: WordsintoAction@odihr.pl |web:www.osce.org/project/wia

ul. Miodowa 10 | 00-251 Warsaw, Poland

The WiA project is implemented across the entire OSCE region with generous funding by the Government of Canada, Germany, the United States as well as other participating States.