37 ECOM cases published in Annual OSCE Report on Hate Crimes

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has published data on hate crimes for 2021. The 2021 data contain information provided by participating States, civil society and international organizations. This annual document reflects the latest data from the world's largest database on hate crimes and contains statistical and other information, as well as the analysis of the situation regarding these crimes throughout the OSCE region.

ECOM regularly provides the Office with information on hate crimes in the EECA region. The information submitted to the Office also contains cases of hate speech, cases of violence and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), and also HIV status.

This year, the Office accepted 37 cases out of 58 provided by ECOM: 10 of them for Uzbekistan, 15 for Tajikistan, 5 for Kyrgyzstan, 4 for Russia and 3 for Belarus. These are mainly cases that relate to hate crimes on the basis of SOGI (32 cases) and discrimination based on HIV status (5 cases).

The OSCE data on hate crimes attracts the attention of European and international institutions, which later helps to develop more coherent and effective measures to counter these crimes at the national and international level. ECOM plans to continue collecting and submitting these data to improve the legal environment in the EECA countries.