Observatory for Security against Acts of Discrimination OSCAD

Organisation

Ministry of the Interior (Ministero dell’ Interno).

Start and end date

Start date:

September 2010.

End date:

Ongoing (as of May 2021).

Scope

National.

Target group(s)

• Law enforcement agencies.
• Civil society organisations.
• Students.
• Teachers.
• Private individuals in general.

Funding

National (Ministry of the Interior).

Objectives

• Prevent and fight hate crime, hate speech and all forms of discrimination.
• Combat under-reporting and under-recording of hate crime.
• Collect data for monitoring and analysis of hate crime.
• Suggest adequate interventions, monitor the progress of complaints and provide advice to police agencies.
• Raise awareness of hate crime by providing training for law enforcement officers and civil society, and running communication campaigns for students and civil society.
• Increase cooperation with civil society organisations and with the Italian national equality body.

Outputs

• Short guide to Judaism for police officers (Breve guida all’ebraismo per operatori di polizia) – a guide developed by OSCAD in cooperation with the Union of Italian Jewish Communities.
• When hate becomes crime (English version) and Quando l’odio diventa reato (Italian version) – an article published in the official national police magazine Polizia Moderna. The English translation of the article was published on the official Ministry of the Interior and Italian National Police website. It will also be available in an easy-to-read brochure format.
• Hatred of disabled people (English version) and L’odio contro le persone disabili (Italian version) – a brochure published by OSCAD. The brochure is available in English and Italian. It was published on institutional websites and disseminated among Italian and international police forces and stakeholders.
• Monitoring of hate crime (Monitoraggio dei crimini d’odio). In March 2021, OSCAD published for the very first time on the official Ministry of the Interior website the data concerning unofficial reports that were received in 2010–2019 and official Italian hate crime data submitted to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). These data included overall rates of hate crime per year (2009–2019) and hate crime disaggregated by discriminatory ground and by OSCE crime category (2016–2019).

Description

As Italian law does not allow third-party reporting or anonymous/online reporting, OSCAD adopted an ‘intermediate step’ to address under-reporting. It created a dedicated email address (OSCAD@dcpc.interno.it) for institutions, associations and private citizens to anonymously report hate crimes, hate incidents and discrimination. However, reporting acts of discrimination to OSCAD does not replace the need to file a police report or call the emergency services.

The OSCAD Secretariat receives reports concerning all types of discrimination, collects the data in a database and then analyses the information. The information is integrated into the National System of Criminal Data Collection.

OSCAD cooperates closely with the Italian equality body (National Office against Racial Discrimination (Ufficio Nazionale Antidiscriminazioni Razziali, UNAR)). In 2011, OSCAD and UNAR signed a memorandum of understanding – which is still in force – to enable the sharing of data and the organisation of training programmes. According to this memorandum, UNAR forwards to OSCAD any cases of discrimination liable for prosecution that are reported to its contact centre; OSCAD sends UNAR any reports received that are not liable for prosecution. Once an incident is reported, OSCAD analyses it and, if it is a crime, contacts the relevant police services to start a proper investigation.

Training is also a priority for OSCAD; it is needed to raise awareness among police staff and improve their efforts in preventing and combating discrimination and hate crime. Training and information seminars have focused on specific topics; these are presented by experts from the equality body, non-governmental organisations, universities and international organisations. The topics have covered OSCAD and its roles and responsibilities; ethnic profiling; hate speech in new media; human rights in law and in practice; lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex hate crime; Roma, Sinti and Traveller issues; capacity building in law enforcement; and how to deal with vulnerable victims.

For any OSCAD activity, the OSCAD Secretariat first receives a proposal from UNAR, a non-governmental organisation or an international organisation, which is then discussed with all parties. After that, the OSCAD Secretariat evaluates and analyses the proposal. This leads to a detailed report that is presented to the president of OSCAD for formal authorisation. For more complex initiatives, the president of OSCAD presents a report to the Chief of Police for his information and approval.

Critical success factors

• It is crucial to have adequate resources and the commitment of government, the police hierarchy and all stakeholders that are involved in the project.
• Clearly defined targeted interventions and strategies are also needed to collect good-quality data on hate crime and improve data collection.
• Memoranda of understanding or other forms of cooperation with UNAR and civil society organisations help to strengthen information exchange and OSCAD’s ability to face problems holistically.
• Cooperation and exchange of information between different law enforcement agencies is important for increasing hate crime monitoring and creating common standards (e.g. for training, interventions and investigations).
• OSCAD is chaired by one of the deputy directors of the Italian National Police (the Director of Criminal Police), that is, a person with a high level of ‘decision-making power’ within the Department of Public Security.

Actors involved in the design and implementation of the practice

Designing bodies and partners consulted:

• Ministry of the Interior (Ministero dell’Interno)
• Department of Public Security (Dipartimento della Pubblica Sicurezza)
• Chief of Police, Director General of Public Security (Capo della Polizia, Direttore Generale della Pubblica Sicurezza)
• Central Directorate of Criminal Police (Direzione Centrale Polizia Criminale).

Implementing bodies:

• Ministry of the Interior (Ministero dell’Interno)
• Department of Public Security (Dipartimento della Pubblica Sicurezza)
• Central Directorate of Criminal Police (Direzione Centrale Polizia Criminale).

Monitoring and evaluation

• The Ministry of the Interior, Department of Public Security and Central Directorate of Criminal Police are responsible for assessing the impact of the practice.
• Evaluation forms are used during the training activities.
• To date, OSCAD has strengthened cooperation between the national police and the carabinieri on combating hate crime. It has also significantly improved cooperation between police agencies and all stakeholders involved in combating hate crime.
• The OSCAD Secretariat has become an important and ‘easy-to-reach’ point of contact. As a result, it is easier for international institutions, the national equality body, civil society organisations and private citizens to directly contact specialist officers to deal with hate crime issues.
• The data received are also monitored. Data monitoring is used to evaluate the effectiveness of OSCAD as a tool against under-reporting, and in view of the Italian contribution to the annual hate crime report, compiled by the OSCE ODIHR. Data monitoring has led to improvements in the collection of hate crime data. The number of Italian data in the OSCE ODIHR hate crime report have also increased significantly.
• Reporting has improved for a number of reasons. These include the creation of a dedicated email address for reporting hate crimes, which can be done anonymously; an increase in police officers’ awareness of hate crime and the number of police officers/cadets who are skilled in recognising and combating hate crimes; better cooperation with the national equality body, civil society organisations, universities, etc., that are in contact with victims and witnesses and that trust OSCAD; the implementation of data collection for analysis and targeted interventions; and the introduction of communication campaigns that combat prejudices against minorities and discrimination and increase awareness among civil society, with a particular focus on students.

Publicly available contact details

OSCAD
Email: oscad@dcpc.interno.it