STAND-UP Newsletter No. 5 was released in January 2024. It was the last newsletter of the project and it gathered information about all partners’ activities from September 2023 and January 2024, including the final event in Brussels that marked the end of the two-year project.
You can read it on the following link: STAND-UP Newsletter #5
EU Policy Paper Deliverable D6.3.
EU-level policy recommendations on supporting multi-agency cooperation in countering hate crime, including through the use of technologies.
Authors: Anastasia Chalkia, Eva Tzavala and Katerina Charokopou, (GNCHR)
Contributors: Viviana Gullo (Agenfor)
The “Defining Hate crime report” is a deliverable elaborated within the STAND-UP project on current perspectives and approaches toward the definition of Hate Crime based on the results of a survey and desk research.
The report comprises the international, regional and European framework, the discussion on hate crime rationales, a harmonisation approach towards a possible “common” definition of hate crime and conclusions.
Hate crime is a phenomenon that has received global recognition. It differs from ordinary crimes because of the motivation of the perpetrator, the impact they have not only on the victim but also on persons that share the same characteristics and society as a whole, and the specific legal arrangements established to handle hate crime and its consequences to people and society.
Hate crime violates the dignity of the individual and the idea of equality between members of society, damaging tolerance and plurality due to the ‘normalisation’ of these crimes because of their frequency and their unnoticed distinctive character. What is more, they create serious public orden problems as social exclusion and social unrest.
Though there is a multitude of international, European and national frameworks, it appears to be a lack of common understanding of exactly what hate crime is, how the legislation should work and which groups should be protected. The following report seeks to address this challenge.
The authors are Anastasia Chalkia, Katerina Charokopou and Eva Tzavala from the Greek National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR), member of the STAND-UP Consortium.
You can read the full report and name it mentioning the authorship and project!
The Hate Crime and Hate Speech Victims Support Handbook will be presented at the event ‘FIGHTING HATE SPEECH AND HATE CRIME AT THE EU LEVEL: An overview of the rising crisis’ on 9th June in Brussels, within ALDA’s General Assembly.
This event will be a dissemination of the project’s outcomes and how the European Institutions welcome the deliverable, what are the positive impacts of the Handbook as support to the victims. The presence of European institutions and international stakeholders will add value to the project and its outcomes, setting the stage for a more detailed discussion on discrimination perpetrated against different groups, such as minorities or women. Participants will have the opportunity to contribute with questions, comments or good practices in countering hate speech and hate crimes.
The first part of the event will focus on Hate crime/hate speech and discrimination in Europe. The second part will consist of a round table on hate crime and hate speech with the aim of advancing the debate on how different minority groups are affected by hate crime. Four different perspectives will be addressed:
1) Gender and Women;
2) the LGBTIQ+ community;
3) Roma Sinti and Travellers and
4) Refugee and Migration.
Speakers will be Nataša Vučković, ALDA’s Governing Board Member and Director of the Foundation for Democracy, Belgrade (Serbia); Federico Terreni, Policy Officer for the European Movement International and Alessandra Brigo, Winning Narratives Centre Coordinator at the IPPF European Network. The event will be introduced by Camila Vedovato, ALDA’s Gender, Inclusion & Human Rights Hub Coordinator, and moderated by Giulia Meco, ALDA’s Gender Inclusion and Human Rights Junior Project Manager.
The event will take place at Maison Hap of the municipality of Etterbeek in Brussels, from 14:00h to 15:30h. You can register using this Google Form. You can find more information about this event in this Agenda.
The first phase of this training has focused on future professionals in this sector, with sessions given last week on 15 and 16 May at the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the University of Malaga (UMA) for students of Citizen Journalism and Social Networks of the Journalism Degree, and for students of Audiovisual Programming and Audience Analysis of the Audiovisual Communication Degree at the University of Granada (UGR).
The training package, developed by the Euro-Arab Foundation researchers Lucía García del Moral, José Luis Salido Medina and Daniel Pérez García, focused on three specific blocks: presentation of the results of the monitoring they have carried out in two fields, Islamophobia and extreme right-wing hate speeches, and a third block on alternative narratives as a response to hate speeches from a holistic perspective.
The Euro-Arab Foundation, a member of the STAND-UP consortium and responsible for its Communication package, has initiated this training as it understands that the media are a fundamental element in the chain of information and education of citizens because, according to the European Code of Ethics in Journalism, approved in 1993 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, “the media assume an ethical responsibility towards citizens and society that is necessary to remember at the present time, when information and communication are of great importance for the development of citizens’ personalities as well as for the evolution of society and democratic life“.
The main objective of the STAND-UP project is to improve inter-agency cooperation in the fight against hate crime through the design, development and implementation of a new inter-agency model led by public authorities. Among the different actions developed by this project, funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, is the design and implementation of training for civil society organisations, law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and judges on how to report, investigate, prosecute and prevent hate crime and discrimination.
The model developed by the STAND UP project, which involves institutions from four European countries: Spain, France, Greece and Italy, includes technological tools to improve the reporting, investigation, prosecution and prevention of hate speech and hate crime, as well as the exchange of data between different agencies; an established definition of hate crime; standardised templates for reporting hate crime (for law enforcement and civil society organisations) and an inter-institutional manual for victim support.
Today the European Union has evolved significantly at social and legislative level concerning the confrontation and elimination of hate crime & hate speech phenomena. However, hate speech & crime against people and groups still exist due to their distinguishing characteristics.
STAND-UP’s overall aim is to establish a multi-agency cooperation model between public authorities & CSOs, so as to tackle hate crime and hate speech phenomena, with the contribution of new technological instruments.
Training’s target group is public authorities (judiciaries, ministries, prosecutors), Law Enforcement Agents (LEAs), like policy officers, and members of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) active in the field of combating hate crime and hate speech.
During the training the participants will familiarise themselves with advanced & tailor-made tools developed within the frame of the project, while also using Virtual Reality technology.
The participants after the trainings will be able to:
The training is based on blended learning methods with joint modules of synchronous learning, therefore being characterised as interactive, experiential and practical. The participants will acquire among others practical skills and knowledge upon the use of OSINT monitoring platforms for automated confidential reporting and early-warnings systems within the frame of investigations.
Finally, through specifically designed Virtual Reality simulation scenarios in the context of the investigations and role-playing exercises, the participants will become aware of the needs of victims during the investigation procedures.
The training will last 5 hours and there is the possibility to attend it at the day of your choice (either on the 29th or on the 30th of May 2023). It will be held in Athens, Greece at EPLO premises, Polignotou & Dioskouron 2 in Plaka. Each workshop will consist by members from all the above-mentioned institutions (mixed groups), where both practical and theoretical knowledge will be gained.
More information concerning the training’s programme will follow within the next days.
Since there is a limited number of seats for each day, registration is required. Below you will be able to proceed with your registration:
Register here.
Before and after the training Evaluation Questionnaires will be distributed, which will be mandatory to be filled in.
The training will take place in Greek, with the sole exception of the practical part, where the training upon the use of the FALKOR platform and the Virtual Reality scenarios will take place in English.
For further information concerning the registration and the training, please contact:
Ms. Maria Poulopoulou: mpoulopoulou@eplo.int | +302113110693
In the framework of the “Stand-Up: fighting against hate crimes in the EU” project, 4 webinars will be presented: 3 national webinars held in Greek, Italian and Spanish, developed by the partners Euroarab Foundation (FUNDEA) from Spain; Fondazione Agenfor Internacional from Italy, and the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) along with the Greek National Comission for Human Rights from Greece. In addition, a fourth webinar will also be held at an pan-european level. The topic of these seminars are about the use of technological tools to monitor hate speech, identifying hateful feelings, areas of intervention, groups at risk and hate narratives on social networks.
The main objective of these seminars is to establish a comprehensive and holistic framework in the fight against hate crimes and hate speech based on the RIPP model (complaint-investigation-prosecution-prevention) from a victim-centered approach. Within the seminars, technological tools as OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) and FALKOR platform will be presented and the results of monitoring hate speech in every research field.
As for the national online events, the Spanish webinar by FUNDEA, “Narratives and right-wing hate speech and Islamophobia in Spain”, will be held on 20 february, with a presentation of the STAND-UP project by Lucía García del Moral. As in the Italian seminar, it will also participate Yuval Sanders and Lior Mordechain presenting the tools for hate speech monitoring online OSINT and FALKOR. Finally, Lucía García del Moral and Jose Luis Salido will explain two case studies from Spain: “Islamophobia in social networks: the World Cup in Qatar” and “Narratives of the extreme right: monitoring 20-N and 25-N dates”. You can register through this form.
The Italian webinar managed by AGENFOR will talk about “Contrast and tracking of hate phenomena in Italy: Veneto Front Skinheads and anti-semitic climate” and it will be on 14 february. The speakers, as the pan-european webinar, will be Viviana Gullo; Yuval Sanders and Lior Mordechain; Fabio Frettoli and Sergio Bianchi. You can register through this form.
About the Greek seminar, EPLO together with the Greek National Comission for Human Rights will held on 15 february the webinar “Confronting Hate Crimes & Hate Speech through OSINT” with the welcoming of Professor Vasilki Artinopoulou, scientific coordinator of the project. The round of discussions will be presented by Maria Poulopoulou, establishing the project’s objectives and methodology. Kouroutzas Christos will talk about “The role of new technologies in tackling hate crime and hate speech”. Lior Mordechai will develop a technical presentation about the use of OSINT intelligence. Finally, the Greek OSINT report focus on the case study “xenophobia towards refugees and inmigrants in Greece” will be presented by Katerina Charokopou and Thanasis Dimopoulos.
The pan-european webinar is about “Tackling and monitoring hate phenomena in Europe: right-wing extremism, islamophobia and antisemitism” and it will be held on 22 february. The seminar will be initiated by Viviana Gullo, presenting STAND-UP and the preventive and investigative model to tackle the hate phenomena; Yuval Sanders and Lior Mordechai will address the technologies OSINT and Falkor supporting the model. As more, regional OSINT reports will be presented by Fabio Frettoli, Katerina Charokopou, Thanassis Dimopoulos, Lucía García del Moral and Viviana Gullo. Finally, Sergio Bianchi will raise a debate and future opportunities. You can register through this form.
STAND-UP has as its main objective to improve cooperation between different organizations in the fight against hate crimes through the design, development and implementation of a new inter-institutional model.
This project is financed by the General Directorate of Justice and Consumers of the European Commission and the consortium is formed by the Euro-Arab Foundation of Higher Studies (Spain), Procura della Repubblica di Trento (Italy), The prosecution office of Venice (Italy), Fondazione Agenfor International (Italy), European Public Law Organization (EPLO), Greek National Commision for Human Rights (GNCHR), Association Des Agences de la Démocratie Locale (ALDA) in France.
The STAND-UP project held 4 webinars in february: 3 national webinars developed by the partners Euroarab Foundation (FUNDEA) from Spain, Fondazione Agenfor Internacional from Italy, and the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) along with the Greek National Comission for Human Rights from Greece, and a final pan-european webinar with the participation of the STAND-UP partners and all the case studies discussed.
All the webinars explained the use of technological tools as OSINT software and Falkor platform to monitor online hate speech and hate crimes. As well, each regional webinar focused on a particular case to investigate.
The Spanish webinar by FUNDEA presented “Narratives and right-wing hate speech and Islamophobia in Spain” with two case studies: the World Cup in Qatar and narratives of the right-wing on two controversial dates in Spain.
The Italian webinar managed by AGENFOR spoke about “Contrast and tracking of hate phenomena in Italy: Veneto Front Skinheads and anti-semitic climate”, focus on antisemitism and right-wing extremism in Italy.
The Greek seminar lidered by EPLO along with the Greek National Comission for Human Rights held the topic “Confronting Hate Crimes & Hate Speech through OSINT” analyzing xenophobia in Greece.
Here you can find all the reports exposed in the webinars:
The STAND-UP Webinars foreseen for this month aim to promote and present the use of technologically advanced tools to combat and prevent hate speech, starting from the analysis of online hate speech, with a view to cooperation between public sector-Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) mainly-and the private sector (associations, NGOs and research centres).
Discriminatory behaviours, intolerance and hate are widespread in Europe towards individuals or entire communities based on biased motivations – race and ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or other peculiar features identifying those individuals. According to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Amnesty International and the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs, the hate and discriminatory climate towards other minorities or sensitive groups grew significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic[1], which exacerbated social tensions and hate sentiments – against Asian people primarily, but also against Jewish, for instance,
always put in the spotlight by conspiracy theories.
Analysing the available data, despite the high number of hate crime incidents, “victims continue to avoid reporting” to LEAs (only one out of ten in Spain, for instance), together with a rise of hate speech, in particular in the online environment, resulting in companies and governments applying increasingly strict regulations.
The hate phenomena are inextricably connected, originating from hateful socio-cultural conduct based on a discriminatory foundation, marginalizing and harming – either physically or verbally – the targets.
However, the specificities of hate crimes and hate speech need to be distinguished, especially concerning the features of the online environment which shape how those phenomena manifest themselves. The criminal component can also lie in a comment on social media or in a text: the web analysis, in this sense, results prominent, not only in thoroughly understanding hate phenomena but also in preventing the escalation from online hate speech to offline hate crime.
The Regional OSINT Report drafted within STAND-UP will offer an insight into the partners’ countries, specifically investigating selected topics: xenophobia in Greece, Antisemitism in Italy and islamophobia in Spain.
The choice of the categories affected is the result of the debate rise during each national Focus Group, providing a broad perspective of the southern hate climate. While migrants and refugees are the most affected group, selecting hate incidents based on religion offers a socio-cultural framework of Italy and Spain which is inherently related to their historical roots. Moreover, both antisemitism and islamophobia actually cover other individuals’ features, as intersectional phenomena: from the religious aspect, they also encompass ethnicity and gender.
In the framework of the “Stand-Up: fighting against hate crimes in the EU” project, 4 webinars will be presented: 3 national webinars held in Greek, Italian and Spanish, developed by the partners Euroarab Foundation (FUNDEA) from Spain; Fondazione Agenfor Internacional from Italy, and the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) along with the Greek National Comission for Human Rights from Greece. In addition, a fourth webinar will also be held at an pan-european level. The topic of these seminars are about the use of technological tools to monitor hate speech, identifying hateful feelings, areas of intervention, groups at risk and hate narratives on social networks.
The main objective of these seminars is to establish a comprehensive and holistic framework in the fight against hate crimes and hate speech based on the RIPP model (complaint-investigation-prosecution-prevention) from a victim-centered approach. Within the seminars, technological tools as OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) and FALKOR platform will be presented and the results of monitoring hate speech in every research field.
The pan-european webinar is about “Tackling and monitoring hate phenomena in Europe: right-wing extremism, islamophobia and antisemitism” and it will be held on 22 february. The seminar will be initiated by Viviana Gullo, presenting STAND-UP and the preventive and investigative model to tackle the hate phenomena; Yuval Sanders and Lior Mordechai will address the technologies OSINT and Falkor supporting the model. As more, regional OSINT reports will be presented by Fabio Frettoli, Katerina Charokopou, Thanassis Dimopoulos, Lucía García del Moral and Viviana Gullo. Finally, Sergio Bianchi will raise a debate and future opportunities. You can register through this form.
As for the national online events, the Spanish webinar by FUNDEA, “Narratives and right-wing hate speech and Islamophobia in Spain”, will be held on 20 february, with a presentation of the STAND-UP project by Lucía García del Moral. As in the Italian seminar, it will also participate Yuval Sanders and Lior Mordechain presenting the tools for hate speech monitoring online OSINT and FALKOR. Finally, Lucía García del Moral and Jose Luis Salido will explain two case studies from Spain: “Islamophobia in social networks: the World Cup in Qatar” and “Narratives of the extreme right: monitoring 20-N and 25-N dates”. You can register through this form.
The Italian webinar managed by AGENFOR will talk about “Contrast and tracking of hate phenomena in Italy: Veneto Front Skinheads and anti-semitic climate” and it will be on 14 february. The speakers, as the pan-european webinar, will be Viviana Gullo; Yuval Sanders and Lior Mordechain; Fabio Frettoli and Sergio Bianchi, exposing the topics mentioned in the pan-european event. You can register through this form.
About the Greek seminar, EPLO together with the Greek National Comission for Human Rights will held on 15 february the webinar “Confronting Hate Crimes & Hate Speech through OSINT” with the welcoming of Professor Vasilki Artinopoulou, scientific coordinator of the project. The round of discussions will be presented by Maria Poulopoulou, establishing the project’s objectives and methodology. Kouroutzas Christos will talk about “The role of new technologies in tackling hate crime and hate speech”. Lior Mordechai will develop a technical presentation about the use of OSINT intelligence. Finally, the Greek OSINT report focus on the case study “xenophobia towards refugees and inmigrants in Greece” will be presented by Katerina Charokopou and Thanasis Dimopoulos.
STAND-UP has as its main objective to improve cooperation between different organizations in the fight against hate crimes through the design, development and implementation of a new inter-institutional model.
This project is financed by the General Directorate of Justice and Consumers of the European Commission and the consortium is formed by the Euro-Arab Foundation of Higher Studies (Spain), Procura della Repubblica di Trento (Italy), The prosecution office of Venice (Italy), Fondazione Agenfor International (Italy), European Public Law Organization (EPLO), Greek National Commision for Human Rights (GNCHR), Association Des Agences de la Démocratie Locale (ALDA) in France.