MEDIA RELEASE:
INAR Welcomes Hate Crime Report
Dec 17, 2020
“We welcome the Department of Justice’s Hate Crime Report and the promise it holds for protecting minorities.” Says INAR – the Irish Network Against Racism.
Speaking at Justice Minister Helen McEntee’s launch of “Legislating for Hate Speech and Hate Crime in Ireland – Report on the Public Consultation 2020“, Claudia Hoareau, Vice-Chair of INAR, the Irish Network Against Racism, said “We wholeheartedly welcome this report which demonstrates the kind of serious leadership needed at the highest levels of government in combating all forms of racism and discrimination.”
“The Report concludes a 20-year review of the 1989 Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act with a constructive note, recognising as it does the considerable harm done by crimes motivated by hostility towards someone’s identity, and setting out a clear framework for developing the best legislative protections for people from hate crime”, said Hoareau.
“We are looking forward to the Oireachtas and public discussions that follow, and to working closely with our allies in the LGBTQI and Disabled rights organisations, wider civil society, and government, to agree the best way to ensure effective legal protections for ethnic minorities and other groups from the considerable harm done by hate crimes.”
“With the promise of having hate crime legislation, this development also brings Ireland closer to fulfilling its international obligations, including the UN CERD Concluding Observations for Ireland, published in December 2019. We look forward to the government following through on this and its other obligations, including the development of a National Action Plan Against Racism, the outlawing of racial profiling, and taking bold measures for eliminating structural, institutional and cultural racism in all areas of life. Minorities in Ireland will be rightly encouraged by the leadership shown by the Minister today.”
ENDS
Notes to Editor:
INAR’s timeline on developments relating to hate crime, since the 2000 commencement of the Review of the 1989 Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, can be found here.
The Irish Network Against Racism (INAR; formerly ENAR Ireland), who coordinates a network of 128 civil society organisations in Ireland, have pioneered the iReport.ie racist incident reporting system since 2013, logging thousands of hate crimes and racist incidents, and producing from their data cutting edge reports and policy submissions to national and international reporting bodies, government and media. Its complete periodic reports on racism can be found here. INAR is also an active member of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), a network of 160 organisations from 30 European States. INAR submits data reports and other submissions to Government, National Authorities, European Union, OSCE, Council of Europe and UN bodies on racism and discrimination in Ireland. INAR prepared and presented the Irish Civil Society Collective Shadow Report to the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination hearing on Ireland in November 2019. INAR has also contributed to the Future of Policing in Ireland report, and numerous other policy submissions.
INAR produces regular reports on racist hate speech, hate crime and discriminatory incidents recorded through its iReport.ie racist incident reporting system. Figures for 2018 and 2019 show an increase in overall reported incidents as well as continued growth in serious incidents, including violent crimes. The growth in serious incidents was recorded against a marked increase in racist hate speech by political figures, and an explosion in race hatred in social media.
The iReport.ie hate crime reporting platform can be accessed online, while the iReport App, is available for Android and iOS devices on the INAR website. The App is aimed at members of minority groups who experience racism, as well as their allies and advocates, encouraging the latter to ‘speak up’ and make racism visible.