Methodology
According to the Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law and the European Commission`s Guidance note on the practical application of Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA:
- ‘hate crime’ is “a criminal offence committed with a bias motive”.
- ‘hate speech’ is a “public incitement to violence or hatred directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin”, which shall also be punishable if committed by public dissemination or distribution of tracts, pictures or other material”.
According to FRA Handbook on European non-discrimination law – 2018 edition:
- “Crimes such as threats, physical attacks, property damage or even murders motivated by intolerance towards certain [people and] groups in society are described as hate crimes or bias crimes. Hate crime can therefore be any crime that targets a person because of their perceived characteristics. The essential element distinguishing hate crimes from other crimes is the bias motive.”
According to ECRI’s General Policy Recommendation No. 15 on Combating Hate Speech:
- ‘Hate speech’ (…) entails the use of one or more particular forms of expression – namely, the advocacy, promotion or incitement of the denigration, hatred or vilification of a person or group of persons, as well any harassment, insult, negative stereotyping, stigmatization or threat of such person or persons and any justification of all these forms of expression – that is based on a non-exhaustive list of personal characteristics or status that includes “race”, colour, language, religion or belief, nationality or national or ethnic origin, as well as descent, age, disability, sex, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation.
According to ECRI`s updated General Policy Recommendation No. 5 on anti-Muslim racism and discrimination: •
- “Anti-Muslim hatred and discrimination should also be viewed through the lens of what is termed as ‘racialisation’”. Racialisation is “the process of ascribing characteristics and attributes presented as innate to a group of concern to it and of constructing false social hierarchies in racial terms and associated exclusion and hostility”.
- “anti-Muslim racism [...] can manifest - implicitly or explicitly - not only in individual attitudes and actions, but also structurally in policy initiatives or institutional arrangements. These manifestations include prejudice, stigmatisation, discrimination (including profiling), hate speech and hate crime, exclusion in key areas of life such as education, employment and housing.
- “[...] anti-Muslim racism is not always reducible to hostility to a “religion” alone and is intimately linked to other forms of exclusion, which can overlap with anti-immigrant sentiments, xenophobia, gender or social class bias. In other words, anti-Muslim racism is multi-layered and intersectional.”
- “Anti-Muslim attacks range from the desecration of Muslim cemeteries, religious buildings and mosques to abusive behaviour, threats, physical assaults, including in public, against Muslim men or men believed to be Muslim, to murder and deadly terrorist attacks. [..] Muslim women are frequently the targets of violence that often involves the pulling off of face veils and headscarves or being spat at.”
- “The concept of intersectionality recognises the manner in which “multiple grounds of identity” interact in experiences of exclusion and hostility. It therefore holds great significance in capturing the consequences of the interaction between two or more combined forms of discrimination or systems of subordination and addresses the manner in which they contribute to create layers of inequality”.
The term “intersectional discrimination” reflects the understanding that the interaction of two or more grounds of discrimination can produce a disadvantage which is qualitatively different to the operation of those grounds separately. It differs from “multiple discrimination”, which is an overarching term for all instances of discrimination on several grounds: intersectional discrimination includes the idea that the interaction of the grounds is synergistic in nature.
According to the Race Equality Directive (2000/43/EC):
- ‘direct discrimination shall be taken to occur where one person is treated less favourably than another is, has been or would be treated in a comparable situation on grounds of racial or ethnic origin;’
- ‘indirect discrimination shall be taken to occur where an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice would put persons of a racial or ethnic origin at a particular disadvantage compared with other persons, unless that provision, criterion or practice is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.’
- ‘Harassment shall be deemed to be discrimination […] when an unwanted conduct related to racial or ethnic origin takes place with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. In this context, the concept of harassment may be defined in accordance with the national laws and practice of the Member States.’
- ‘An instruction to discriminate against persons on grounds of racial or ethnic origin shall be deemed to be discrimination within the meaning of paragraph 1.’
In the CHEZ judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union confirmed that:
- ‘the concept of ethnicity has its origin in the idea of societal groups marked by common nationality, religious faith, language, cultural and traditional origins and backgrounds’ .
Conducts that match these definitions and target Muslims (persons practicing the Muslim religion), or persons who are perceived to be Muslim, or persons who are associated/affiliated with Muslims fall within the scope of this data collection.
Target groups
In the framework of this research FRA aims at collecting information on hate crime, hate speech and discrimination against Muslims or persons perceived to be Muslim and persons who are associated with Muslims. Therefore, members of the anti-Muslim racism civic space, activists, lawyers and defenders, fall also within the scope of this data collection request. This is line with case law of the ECtHR providing clear standards for the effective investigation of any possible hate crime, including cases beyond actual and perceived characteristic – covering also presumed association or affiliation with another person with this actual or perceived personal status.
In this research, nationality, migrant or refugee background or the administrative status of victims can function as a proxy for anti-Muslim hatred and discrimination. EU legislation uses the term ‘third country nationals’, ‘immigrants’ and ‘refugees’ or ‘asylum seekers’ to define non-EU citizens residing in the EU. However, many Member States’ national policies (for example on integration of migrants) use various terms to define this target group, e.g. ‘third-country nationals’, ‘non-EU citizens’, ‘foreigners’, ‘migrants’, ‘refugees’, ‘persons entitled to humanitarian protection’ and ‘ethnic minorities’.
In this research, the term ‘migrant’ is used as an umbrella that may include different categories of non-EU citizens. In many cases, hate crime, incitement to hatred, hate speech and discrimination may target people with a migrant background, irrespective of their legal residence or citizenship status, who come from countries with a predominant Muslim population. In this sense, attacks against asylum seekers, their accommodation and related structures may also include manifestations of anti-Muslim hatred/bias.
Muslims, persons who are perceived to be Muslim & persons who are associated with Muslims may:
- be EU citizens or non-EU citizens;
- be persons with or without a migrant background;
- have or not have asylum seeker or refugee status; and
- be or not be members of an autochthonous (national) ethnic/religious minority.