Facts Against Hate

Organisation

The Ministry of Justice in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior, the Police University College and the following organisations: Anti-Racist Forum (Finland), Centre for Peace Studies (Croatia) and Irish Network Against Racism (Ireland) (Oikeusministeriö yhteistyössä sisäministeriön, Poliisiammattikorkeakoulun ja seuraavien järjestöjen kanssa: Antirasistinen Foorumi, Rauhantutkimuksen keskus (Kroatia), Irlannin Verkosto Rasismia Vastaan (Irlanti)/Justitieministeriet i samarbete med inrikesministeriet, Polisyrkeshögskolan och följande organisationer: Antirasistiskt Forum, Centrum för Fredsstudier (Kroatien), Irländska Nätverket Mot Rasism (Irland)).

Start and end date

Start date:

1 December 2019.

End date:

30 November 2021.

Scope

National.

Target group(s)

The different project activities have different target groups. The main target group of the Ministry of the Interior’s project activities is the police; and the target groups of the Ministry of Justice’s project activities are those at risk of hate victimisation and the organisations that work with them, political parties and local politicians.

Funding

National funding (government budget); co-funded by the EU’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme 2014-2020.

Objectives

• Improve the effectiveness of work against hate crime and hate speech by developing an online reporting tool and referral mechanisms (referral of victims to victim support services through the online reporting tool).
• Develop data collection, hate crime reporting and local cooperation practices.

Outputs

• An online reporting platform.
• Factsheets and a guidebook on best practices in police work against hate crime.
• Indicators to monitor hate crime and online hate speech at local level. • Report on monitoring hate speech using artificial intelligence.
• Report on hate crimes in the judicial system.
• Material focusing on specific target groups (e.g. material in sign language, material in easy-to-read formats, material in Sámi languages).

Description

The project includes four activities:

1. Development of hate crime reporting: The aim of this activity is to test the tool developed by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for hate crime reporting in Croatia, Finland and Ireland. In addition, the aim is to develop the process of referral of victims of hate crime to support services and the police.
2. Development of cooperation at local level: The aim of this activity is to strengthen various actors’ capacity to combat hate crime and hate speech at local level. The work of the local police is developed by testing practices that build trust both between different population groups and between the police and minority groups. In addition, the aim is to increase the awareness of local politicians, people belonging to sexual and gender minorities, and people with disabilities about hate crime and available reporting channels.
3. Development of hate crime monitoring: The aim of the activity is to pilot hate crime monitoring by the National Prosecution Authority and the courts. In addition, the activity will develop indicators to monitor hate crime incidents at local level. The goal is also to test artificial intelligence for monitoring hate speech online.
4. International cooperation: The aim of the activity is to exchange experiences at EU level and share best practices for combating hate speech and hate crime.

Critical success factors

• The practice has improved the measurability of hate crime and hate speech reporting by developing monitoring indicators based on statistical data.
• The practice has many transferable aspects. It involves international cooperation with the aim of exchanging experiences at EU level and sharing best practices for combating hate speech and hate crime. Tools such as the OSCE reporting platform have wider applicability in other settings and/or Member States. The OSCE reporting platform could be a highly transferable tool for reporting hate speech. Materials such as brochures and those produced for the police can also be modified for use elsewhere.

Actors involved in the design and implementation of the practice

Three of the project partners are civil society organisations and three are public authorities. The partners are involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation of the project. In particular, the organisations have been involved in the piloting of the OSCE reporting platform. In addition, organisations for people with disabilities provided ideas and comments during the production of material for people with disabilities. Training sessions for people with disabilities are organised in cooperation with civil society organisations. Training sessions for people belonging to sexual and gender minorities have been planned together with the organisation Seta – LGBTI Rights in Finland; the sessions will be carried out in cooperation with Seta – LGBTI Rights in Finland and its member organisations nationwide.

Monitoring and evaluation

The project is evaluated internally on the basis of indicators (both qualitative and quantitative) agreed on jointly by the project partners. In addition, an external evaluation of the project will be commissioned, and is due to start in 2021. A final progress report will be submitted to the European Commission in late 2021, after the end of the project.

Publicly available contact details

Official website of the project in English:

https://oikeusministerio.fi/en/project?tunnus=OM043:00/2019

Project Manager: Milla Aaltonen
Email: milla.aaltonen@om.fi