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Description
The aim of the project is, based on representative research, legal analysis and strategic litigation, to prepare comprehensive legislative proposal improving the position and protection of victims of bias crime. A systemic legislation change will be proposed under the supervision of a project partner (Palacký University, Law School). The proposal will be communicated to the legislators, both through the conference and through advocacy and video campaign. The project involves communities at risk of bias crime, namely LGBT community and people with dissabilities.
Summary of project results
Main issue the project aimed to address is inequality in the law concerning various groups of biased violence victims. Under current Czech legislation, only certain groups are adequately protected against hate crime, like for example people attacked because of their skin colour or religion, while others – specifically LGBT+ people and people with disabilities do not receive equal protection. In practice it means that perpetrators of hate crimes against the latter groups can receive less severe sentences because the bias motive of the crime cannot be considered and thus punished accordingly. Although it is well known that hate crime incidents have greater and longer lasting impacts not only on the victims themselves but entire communities. This discrepancy in protection of groups at risk of falling victims to bias violence is discriminatory and further reinforces vulnerability of certain groups of people. Therefore, the project’s aim was to create a proposal of amendment to the current hate crime law in the Czech Republic.
Moreover, in the case of people with disabilities there are issues of very little awareness of bias violence – that it exists, what it means, how one can protect themselves and where to look for help, etc. Low understanding of bias violence is a general problem applicable to any at risk group or general public, but it is extremely low among people with disabilities. While initiatives fighting for LGBTQ+ rights have a long tradition and in the Czech context have started to address the hate crime issue as well, they are also visible in a public and media sphere, people with disabilities often do not understand that they can fall victim to hate crime due to their disabilities and are also more likely to consider the bias incidents as “just part of their life”. Organisations working with them are no better informed about the issue nor are there any data or statistics available. For that reason, an in-depth study of bias violence among the people with disabilities was a core part of the project enabling us to gain valuable data demonstrating the extent of the problem and important of equal legislative protection as well as providing space to help raise awareness among the target group itself and establish close and important connection with other relevant not for profit organisations.
The project consisted of several core actions:
- Proposal of amendment to the current hate crime law: process started with a rigorous analysis of the current law and identification of its shortages together with gathering available and useful data from public court databases and in-depth research of practice in other countries, especially focused on these geo-politically close to ours. A series of workshops and debates with other respected law experts with long experience in the field followed as the first draft gradually developed into the final proposal.
- Studies about bias violence among people with disabilities: our original plan to outsource part of the study to an external research agency had not work since we were not able to find one with access to a pool of respondents we needed, resulting in our in-house researchers conducting the research themselves. It consisted of two parts: quantitative and qualitative, first one being carried out via online questionnaire available during a 7month period (next to the main form there was also one adjusted for people with impaired mental capacities), second one conducted through 16 semi-structured interviews with 15 respondents describing their own experiences and 1 describing experience of their non-verbally communicating relative. Research methods had been developed in close cooperation with organisations working with people with disability. There was one more study exploring bias violence among people with disabilities from the point of view of the organisations working with them, also via online questionnaire. Its findings helped to gain a more complex picture of the whole issue.
- Awareness campaign and Advocacy: “Error in Law '''' campaign was designed to raise awareness about lack of equal protection of certain groups of people against bias violence, need for a legal change and high prevalence of hate crime victims among people with disabilities or LGBT+ people. Website, 6 short video ads, 6 billboards and 30 CLV (city light vitrines) in streets of Prague, and online and media campaign targeted general public, the group of people directly at risk and lawmakers with a power to achieve the legal change. The second targeted group – specifically people with disabilities, was also reached via close cooperation with not for profit organizations working with them, which helped us spread the awareness, while the last one, the lawmakers, were also targeted via press releases, press conferences and most importantly individual meetings and workshops presenting the legal proposal.
- Direct support of bias violence victims: regular organisation’s activity – providing social and legal support to bias violence victims – was also part of the project, as an increased number of people attacked due to their gender identity, sexual orientation or disability reached out for help thanks to the awareness raising activities. Next to standard social and legal services, strategic litigation on behalf of the clients was also provided.
- Cooperation with the law enforcement and other NGOs: our long-term experience has shown that police officers often play important role in hate crime victims’ dealing with aftermath of the attack and should be well informed about all aspects of the issue (identifiers of hate crime, differences to other criminal cases, impacts, rights and options of the victims and how to best proceed when working with them, etc.). In order to implement a systematic educational plan among the police, a series of meetings with the Police Presidium was planned. Other NGOs working with crime victims were involved too, as a joint coordinated approach is the most beneficial.
- Development of our own organisation: complexity of the project allowed space for our own development, most notable in the PR aspects where we were able to create a new PR and Media coordinator position. Another important output is broadening our own horizons when it comes to making our work, services and events truly inclusive for everyone.
All of the above mentioned activities and points of focus came together at the final project conference we organised for the professional public. Lawmakers, NGOs’ representatives, people with disabilities, law enforcement representatives and others were among invited guests and conference speakers. The main discussion themes unfolded from defined types of ableism and disablism. Our studies’ findings, legal research and proposed law amendment were presented and personal experience from various points of view were shared.
- Hate crime law amendment has been in process, we achieved support from various important figures in the Czech politics and our proposal has been loaded in comment procedure by three commenting points, which is crucial first step ensuring that it becomes part of public debate and greatly raising a chance of its implementation, if not now then at some point in the future.
- Awareness of bias violence has been raised among people with disabilities, who were informed about hate crime specifics and encouraged to reach out for help to protect themselves. Similarly, close contacts with NGOs working with them have been established paving way to further continue to raise awareness and empower this group of people.
- Awareness about bias violence and insufficiencies in current legislation have been raised among the general public, contributing to the positive impact on various groups of people at risk of becoming hate crime victims.
- A formal cooperation with the Police has been established, helping to provide a systematic education on hate crime topic throughout the institution and strengthening the much needed collaboration among the police and NGOs working with crime victims.
- Our own organisation has benefited from the project as well. A new PR and Media Coordinator and her work elevated the public profile of our organisation, which is beneficial when promoting any pursuits or activities we are involved in. The cooperation with other NGOs taught us more about obstacles people with disabilities face, our own albeit unintentional barriers and approaches to become truly inclusive and accessible. Work behind the legal proposal taught us about how the entire process works and what lobbying and advocacy activities entail.
Overall we consider the project successful. We achieved significant developments in all our goals and we learnt truly valuable lessons doing so.