Come Forward: Empowering and Supporting Victims of Anti–LGBT Hate Crimes
Come Forward: Empowering and Supporting Victims of Anti–LGBT Hate Crimes is the new groundbreaking action led by the University of Brescia (Italy) and NGO Lambda Warsaw (Poland) and implemented by a consortium of NGOs, universities and public institutions from 10 European countries. The project aims at fighting underreporting of anti–LGBT hate crime by increasing the number of dedicated reporting centres, improving the access to specialized victim support, sharing good practices, strengthening cross–border and multi–agency partnerships and raising awareness and empowering victim.
Communities Inc. – ‘Hate Crime, Communities in Control’
Communities Inc. have been awarded a grant from the Nottingham Police & Crime Commissioner’s Office, to run a project called ‘Hate Crime, Communities in Control’. This project is designed to strengthen and increase hate crime reporting mechanisms through community based organisations. As a result, when local people experience hate crime, they are more likely to have a connection with these organisations and therefore a greater likelihood of reporting their incident.
Compass Disability Services – Somerset Hate Crime Support Service
Somerset Hate Crime Support Service offers victims of Hate Crime support and advocacy, as well giving information advice and guidance. The service can, for example, support a victim through the process of reporting a hate crime or accompany a victim when talking to the police.
Disability Rights UK – Let’s Stop Disability Hate Crime Guide
To truly tackle disability hate crime, there needs to be an increase in the number of crimes and incidents that are reported. Until this happens, there will never be a true picture of the prevalence of disability hate crime in this country and nothing will change. Reporting disability hate crimes enables the local police force to obtain a better picture of disability hate crime in the area, and also plays an important role in preventing further disability hate crimes as the police have a better understanding of the amount of crime in the area and can use this information to better tackle it.
This Hub has two main aims: (1) to raise awareness of disability hate crime, helping disabled people to understand what a hate crime is and (2) the Hub also wants to help disabled people to report hate crime, and shows the different ways you can do this. The Hub provides helpful resources, including case studies and videos of disabled people talking about their own experiences of hate crime. There are also contact numbers and information about where to go and who to talk to if you think you have been affected by Hate Crime.
Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES) provide alternative methods of reporting, either online or by using a form that an individual can print off and send to them via surface mail.
The GIRES service enables you to give information that they can assemble into summarised reports without revealing any person’s identity. They will use those reports to inform the Home Office, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and local authorities about the frequency and type of crime trans people are experiencing. They will also be able to pinpoint the locations where this crime is occurring most frequently and where the police should concentrate.
Police Scotland takes hate crime very seriously. In the last year there were over 5,300 charges of hate crime reported to the Procurator Fiscal in Scotland. However, there are many more incidents that go unreported. We all have a responsibility to report hate crime if we witness it – it’s the only way we can challenge it, and put an end to it for good.
Internet Centre Anti Racism Europe (I CARE)
I CARE is a virtual network to support and to be used by those who are committed to improve universal human rights standards and particularly non-discrimination principles. I CARE is the information disseminator for the European NGO-community working in the fields of anti-discrimination, Human Rights, antisemitism, diversity and migration, with a focus on anti-racism. I CARE is a NGO community networking system, an environment where large and small organizations can work on local, national, regional and international issues. The purpose of I CARE is the empowerment of democratic, non-violent Human Rights and antiracism work by offering information and reporting on events taking place, by facilitating communication, advocacy, campaigns and actions and by stimulating intersectional and international co-operation of NGOs.
LAMBDA is a non-profit, gay / lesbian / bisexual / transgender agency dedicated to reducing homophobia, inequality, hate crimes, and discrimination by encouraging self-acceptance, cooperation, and non-violence. LAMBDA’s Anti-Violence Project can often provide individuals with referrals to local anti-violence and victim advocates in their area.
National LGBT Hate Crime Partnership
The National LGBT Hate Crime Partnership brings together 35 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) organisations from across England, Wales and Scotland. Delivered for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the partnership led by the LGBT Consortium aims to increase the reporting of Homophobic, Biphobic and Transphobic Hate Crimes and incidents and improve the support available to those targeted.
OSCE ODIHR Hate Crime Reporting
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has worked to create a resource to share information from OSCE participating States, civil society and inter-governmental organizations about hate crime. Users are able to access all the materials and data contained in the paper report – “Hate Crimes in the OSCE Region – Incidents and Responses” – categorised thematically and by country. This website is part of ODIHR’s work in assisting governments in meeting their commitment as OSCE participating States to combat hate crime.
ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. In addition to us, the project’s growing list of partners include The Google News Lab, Univision News, the New York Times Opinion Section, WNYC, BuzzFeed News, First Draft, Meedan, New America Media, The Root, Latino USA, The Advocate, and Ushahidi. We’re also working with civil-rights groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, and schools such as the University of Miami School of Communication. We will for the first time be able to take a rigorous look at hate crimes in America – combining data analysis, social media newsgathering, and ambitious investigative storytelling.
Victims of hate crime are being helped through an innovative network of support, launched across County Durham and Darlington. Under the slogan ‘Report it to sort it’, a range of agencies have come together to give victims the channels to report the crime and get the support they need. Schemes such as Safe Places, which provide a range of safe havens across the area for hate crime victims to get support, and Community Hands, a dedicated volunteer helpline number for potential victims, are just some of the innovative tactics being used to tackle the issue.
SAFE.TO.BE by Speak Out: Tackling Anti-LGBT Hate Speech and Hate Crime
The SAFE.TO.BE website was launched as part of the Speak Out Project which seeks to address anti-LGBT hate in the EU and to provide resources for victims, professionals, and those wishing to learn more about LGBT hate. The site offers advice for staying safe online and how to report a hate incident, as well as empowering stories from those who have overcome hate. Educational resources include a fact checking section, a Q&A section, and an overview of EU hate legislation. Professional resources are available for download and include a toolkit, a restorative justice handbook, and a selection of videos.
The Self Evident App has been developed by the sister social enterprise of Witness Confident, a charity which takes a stand against the walk-on-by culture and aims to reconnect witnesses and victims with the criminal justice system. This free smartphone app enables the user to capture evidence using videos, audio and photos, describe what happened, report and share the evidence securely with an adviser, lawyer, support group or friend, and send a crime report to the police. Though not an app developed specifically to tackle hate crime, it helps to record patterns of behaviour, gives victims the confidence to report their experiences backed up by reliable evidence and gives repeat victims a measure of control.
Stop Hate UK works alongside local strategic partnerships to tackle Hate Crime and discrimination, encourage reporting and support the individuals and communities it affects. Stop Hate UK provides a toolkit to help improve local responses to Hate Crime and an alternative for people who do not wish to report Hate Crime to the police or other statutory agencies. Their helplines enable people to access independent support and information, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks (MAMA) is a service that allows people from across England to report any form of Anti-Muslim abuse. It includes a portal where you may address your concerns and record any attack that you experience as a result of your Muslim faith or someone perceiving you to be Muslim. Within the ‘Report an Attack’ section, victims can describe the details of the abuse you suffered, whether verbal or physical, and then add in the location of the attack so that we can effectively map incidents across England. MAMA also refers you for support if you have been a victim of an Anti-Muslim attack.
Transgender Anti-Violence Project
The mission of the Transgender Anti-Violence Project is to provide education, support, referrals and advocacy in relation to violence and oppression based on gender identity.
This project addresses all forms of violence that impact on the transgender and gender-questioning community, including (but not limited to) domestic violence, sexual violence, anti- transgender harassment and hate crimes.
The True Vision Hate Crime App gives you information about hate crime or incidents and how to report it. On the full website (http://www.report-it.org.uk/home) you can:
- Find out what hate crimes or hate incidents are
- Find out about the ways you can report them
- Report using the online form
- Find information about people that can help and support you if you have been a victim.
University of Huddersfield Hate Crime Reporting Centres
If you are the victim of a hate incident or hate crime, or have witnessed one and want to report it, there are a few places you can do this on the University of Huddersfield campus.
There are THREE Hate Crime Reporting Centres:
- the Wellbeing and Disability Services Reception in the Student Centre on the Queensgate campus
- the Students’ Union Advice Centre
- Reception in University Campus Barnsley – these are all Hate Crime Reporting Centres.
West of Scotland Regional Equality Council (WSREC) Third Party Reporting
Third Party reporting is a way of reporting a crime, including Hate Crime, or passing on information without talking to the police directly. There are a number of different organisations, including WSREC, throughout Strathclyde area where victims, witnesses, carers or others can speak privately to a member of staff, and they will pass the information onto the police.
