Newsletter Nr. 62

The legacy of recent European history is a crucial pillar of the values the EU stands  for. At a time marked by historical distortion and revisionism, a return of war in Europe due to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and an unprecedented rise of antisemitism and other forms of hatred in Europe, following the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel on 7 October 2023, remembrance of and education about common 20th century European experiences become even more pertinent for all parts of society, particularly for the next generation and people in positions of power. 

The "Strengthening the remembrance of the Holocaust, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity to reinforce democracy in the EU" is priority 2 of the CERV Programme. 

The online world has amplified the negative effects of hate speech. Hate crimes are a direct violation of the victims’ fundamental right to dignity, to equality and non-discrimination. Recently, the EU is experiencing an alarming increase in hate speech and hate crime, including physical and online attacks targeting in particular the Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe. 

Projects under this priority should aim to enable civil society organisations to establish mechanisms of cooperation with public authorities in particular to support the reporting and recording of episodes of hate crime and hate speech; to ensure support to victims of hate speech and hate crime; and to support law enforcement, including through training or data collection methodologies and tools. Projects should also focus on activities to tackle hate speech online, including reporting content to IT companies, designing counter narratives and awareness raising campaigns, and educational activities to address the societal challenges of hate speech online.

The Framework Decision on combating certain forms of expressions of racism and xenophobia requires the criminalisation of public incitement to violence or hatred based on race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin. The Commission’s policies address also specific forms of hate speech and hate crime against groups and communities (e.g., antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred or anti-gypsyism, hate speech and hate crime relating to gender and sexual orientation.

Projects’ results are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:

• Providing Police Authorities and other relevant security practitioners with better, modern and validated tools, methods and training curricula to tackle those activities related to hate speech;
• Developing European common approaches, collecting data on hate speech, collecting court-proof evidence and crime attribution, and identifying and deploying relevant security measures related to hate motivated crime and speech;
• Enhancing citizen’s security perception and the hate speech prevention by preparing education and training materials on cultural and societal impacts of hate speech and hate crime.