Methodology

The Eurobarometer published by the European Commission in October 2015 warned that tolerance was retreating in Europe. Almost two-thirds of its citizens considered that discrimination was common, and 50% of Europeans shared this idea when applied to religious convictions. The groups that suffered the greatest levels of rejection were Jews, Muslims and Romanies. The Commission also raised the alarm on the rise of hate speech under the protection of a favourable context: internally, the economic crisis that much of the population were still suffering; externally, the crisis in the Mediterranean that led to an unprecedented wave of migrations.

Extending the timeframe to June 2020 makes it possible to include more recent cases and statistics, although the latter are not available in every case and are conditioned by collecting data from organisations and other circumstances limited by the coronavirus crisis and its unequal impact on the study countries. The 2020 pandemic has also meant that some observatories have not been operating due to confinement and restrictions on people getting together. In any event, it represents a comparative advantage over organisations that systematically study this field, in particular the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which provides a wide range of data, although with a considerable time lag.

The study particularly emphasises the high level of unawareness regarding the real victims of hate crimes. There are useful official statistics on hate crimes, but there are also trends, phenomena and thousands of specific cases that do not appear in the official figures. The concept here is chiffres noires, as it is called in France (the dark figures of crime), which refers to the gap between the number of acts of discrimination reported to the police or legal authorities and how many actually take place. The National Advisory Board of Human Rights in France (CNCDH) claims that racist crimes are “a massively under-notified phenomenon”.

To cast light on these ‘dark figures’, civil society plays a key role in the methodology of this report. The study sets out to consult other studies and statistics by associations, organisations and observatories that work on the ground in the aforementioned countries, so they have direct contact with manifestations of hate and its victims. The value of their studies goes beyond merely quantifying cases and lies in their ability to reveal the small print of the consequences of hate and identify trends, problems and manifestations more quickly and in more detail than official bodies. Sharing data gives an accurate overview of the rise of hatred in the European Union and demonstrates the extensive documentation, recording and analysis required to really find out what is happening in our societies.

Overall, the report is based on a database with 60,000 examples of hate incidents reported by 141 organisations, associations and media in the six countries being analysed between 1 January 2015 and 30 June 2020.

The full list, broken down by country, can be consulted on the Excel file attached to this publication.

It is estimated that undeclared racist acts might account for over 60 per cent of cases in a country like France. Therefore, if they are not reported, they are not subject to judicial sentences, which helps to maintain a certain impunity, and in turn are harmful to victims and the cohesion of society.

Reporting an act is not something one does lightly; it is often a difficult step for the victim. The victim not only reports the physical assault, by their dignity is also affected by an attack on their group (or which they are considered to belong to).

Victims may therefore be faced with a number of obstacles, difficulty in expressing themselves or even fear of reprisals. These are all factors that discourage people from reporting. Indeed, even when victims decide to report a case, they may refrain from doing so at the last minute. This withdrawal is also a ‘dark figure’ that should be avoided if possible.

To reduce this phenomenon, the French CNCDH has made several recommendations in this respect:

1. Generalisation of the online pre-reporting system, also requiring police officers to be properly trained, should never replace in-person reporting.
2. Improving access to information is essential to help victims to take necessary measures: announce the mechanisms for reporting the crime (online or in person, at any police station), the option of writing directly to the prosecution authorities, demonstrating that a complaint must be made, drawing up systematic reports by schools if an infringement is detected, etc.
3. The fight against discrimination is also carried out at an academic level, such as in universities. This explains why the CNCDH recommends strengthening the role of racism reference points in universities so that specific training can be offered on the area and discussion and exchange forums can be set up for victims.