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Discrimination and the Roma Community 2014
criminal offence, including offences against persons
or property, where the victim, premises, or target
of the offence are selected because of their real or
perceived connection, attachment, affiliation, sup-
port, or membership with a group that may be based
upon race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour,
religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual
orientation, or other similar factor.” Hate crime, also
referred to as crime motivated by prejudice, bias
or intolerance, refers to the criminal negation of the
intrinsic dignity of individuals and the universality of
human rights resulting in rejection of diversity, the
right to equality and to be different and negation of
the principle of tolerance as defined under the UNE-
SCO-United Nations declaration in terms of respect,
acceptance and appreciation of human diversity.
Furthermore, the European Directives on equal treat-
ment and crime victims and the Framework Decision
on Racism and Xenophobia, endorse intervention by
civil society in support of victims of discrimination,
defining the latter as: “an act or omission in which
persons are treated less favourably than others are,
have been or would have been treated in a corre-
sponding situation and where an apparently neutral
provision, criterion or practice would put persons, for
reasons of intolerance, at a particular disadvantage
compared with other persons, unless that provision,
criterion or practice is objectively justified by a le-
gitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim
are appropriate and necessary. Similarly, regarding
victimisation caused by extreme hate speech, the
European Committee of Ministers of the Council of
Europe in its Recommendation (97) 20 of 30 October
1997 defines hate speech as: “Hate speech shall mean
all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote
or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or
other forms of hatred based on intolerance, includ-
ing: intolerance expressed by aggressive national-
ism and ethnocentrism, discrimination and hostility
against minorities, migrants and people of immigrant
origin.”
The Council of Victims of hate crime and discrimination
was formed to give a voice to victims and work to
combat racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, islamopho-
bia, anti-gypsyism, homophobia, misogyny, sexism,
aporophobia, totalitarianism, negrophobia, transphobia
and any other manifestation related to intolerance, dis-
crimination and hate crime, including neo-fascism and
aggressive nationalism. And also to work in favour of
enforcing the resolutions of international bodies in this
area, especially the UN, OSCE, the Council of Europe
and the European Union, and develop legislation that
truly protects victims of hate crime.
III. Report by the Hate and Discrimination
Crime Service of the Barcelona Provincial
Public Prosecutor. Year 2013.
The Hate and Discrimination Crime Service of the Barce-
lona Provincial Public Prosecutor began to formally pro-
vide services in October 2009 and was the first service
of its kind in a Spanish prosecution office. In 2013, a total
of 50 delegate prosecutors were appointed through-
out Spain, at least one to each provincial capital.
As of the end of 2013, that service had completed its
fourth year of work specialising in hate crimes and dis-
crimination based on race, ethnic origin, sexual identity,
belief, religion, sex or disability.
In this report the Service again expresses its concern
over the high number of acts that go unreported as
highlighted by national bodies such as the State Council
for Equal Treatment and Non-discrimination (Ministry of
Health, Social Services and Equality), and international
organisations such as the European Union Agency for
Fundamental Rights. Proof of this is the low number
of discrimination crimes and misdemeanours reported
in 2013 to police and security forces. A breakdown of
complaints filed shows that the number one discrimina-
tion factor is ethnic and national origin (41.2%) followed
by political persuasion (28%) and sexual orientation
(18.5%).
One of the objectives of this document, in light of the
absence or lack of statistical data regarding crimes mo-
tivated by hate or the wilful discrimination of people
by reason of their race, ethnic or national origin, sexual
orientation, belief, religion, sex or disability, is to furnish
information on the number of cases heard in the courts
and prosecution services for crimes motivated by dis-
crimination and to monitor each proceeding from the
time the complaint is filed until the case is resolved.
The date contained in the report were obtained from
police reports submitted to the service in virtue of the
“
processing of criminal acts motivated by hate or dis-
crimination
” by the
Mossos d’Esquadra
(regional police
of Catalonia) and data furnished by all other police forc-
es, the National Police and the Guardia Civil, and thanks
to artisanal monitoring designed by the Service itself
once these cases have been heard.
The report also breaks down the information by crime,
investigation dossiers ordered by the hate and discrim-
ination crime service of the Barcelona Provincial Public
Prosecutor’s office, requests for dismissal and indict-
ments submitted and judgments delivered (convic-
tions, acquittals and those considering discrimination as
an aggravating circumstance).