ECRI Report, (fourth monitoring cycle). Published on 13 October 2015
Country
Estonia
Year
Type of publication
Geographical coverage
National
Area/location of interest
Type of Institution
Council of Europe body
Institution
Main Thematic Focus
Racism & xenophobia Discrimination Ethnic profiling
Target Population
Muslims Migrants Ethnic minorities People with migrant background Refugees & asylum seekers
Key findings
ECRI believes that the low number of racist cases is the result of a significant level of under-reporting by victims of hate crimes.
Hate crimes that have been reported, were not investigated by the police.
ECRI has noted a particular problem of racist hate speech in political discourse.
In terms of the criminal-law response, ECRI observes that few cases have been dealt with by the courts. ECRI believes that this situation is a result of the substance of the provisions criminalizing incitement to hatred and that this could be improved by the initiative of the Ministry of Justice to amend the provisions of the Criminal Code addressing the issues of racism, intolerance and racial discrimination.
Methodology (Qualitative/Quantitative and exact type used, questionnaires etc)
The working methods for the preparation of the reports involve documentary analyses, a visit to the country concerned, and then a confidential dialogue with the national authorities.
Sample details and representativeness
ECRI’s reports are analyses based on a great deal of information gathered from a wide variety of sources.