Two organizations said a majority of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) member states still fail to adequately address the problem of rising anti-Semitic and other bias crimes.
In a report, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Human Rights First analyzed and rated how governments are responding to anti-Semitism and hate crime based on data in the just released annual hate crime report of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
“Seven years ago in Berlin, the OSCE countries pledged with great urgency to gather data on anti-Semitic crimes,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL’s national director.
”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?”
According to the report, titled "Hate Crimes in the OSCE Region: Incidents and Responses", only 20 of 56 participating states gather data on anti-Semitic incidents. 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,” it said.
“We renew our call to all OSCE governments to take action to move their countries forward in the fight against hate crime,” said Foxman.
“This is not just for the sake of the victims – all communities, all societies have a stake in improving the response to hate crimes.”
The ADL/Human Rights First report puts forward an action agenda for governments to address hate crimes and urges them to utilize the training tools and resources in the OSCE’s hate crime toolkit.