Manifesto for the European Day of Victims of Hate Crimes

«FOR A COMPREHENSIVE LAW AGAINST HATE CRIMES AND UNIVERSAL PROTECTION OF THE VICTIMS»

TOLERANCE EXTINGUISHES HATE – 2024  

The  European Day of Victims of Hate Crimes, 22 July,  instituted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and following a campaign promoted by the Movement against Intolerance in 2014 in memory of the massacre in Oslo and Utoya  (Norway 2011),  when 77 people, mostly teenagers, were murdered by the neo-Nazi fanatic Anders Breivik, is the Day that remembers all people who are victims of hate crimes. On the occasion of its commemoration in Memory of the Victims, the signatory associations demand firm action against this scourge through a  Comprehensive Law against Hate Crimes and Universal Protection of the Victim in order to address this problem from prevention to punishment and comprehensive assistance to victims of criminal intolerance.

From a universal approach to Human Rights, from the perspective of the victim and the protection of the intrinsic dignity of the person ,  hate crimes  refer to any criminal action motivated by intolerance of the different;  the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, the OSCE and other institutions are positioned in this orientation   . They are a tragic reality in a context of growing extremist polarization and projections of xenophobia, racism, anti-Semitism, dysphobia, intolerance towards religions and beliefs, misogyny and sexism, homophobia and transphobia, anti-Gypsyism, ageism, ultra-nationalism, ideological fanaticism, and other expressions of intolerance, including towards physical appearance, genetic reality, mental health, language, territorial origin, professional condition or any other that denies the universal value of human dignity, its freedoms and rights of the person due to their diversity, due to the manifestations of their human condition, while breaking the democratic values ​​of concord, tolerance, inclusion and plurality and peace.

The terrorist hate crime  that gave rise to this Day of Remembrance was motivated by the perpetrator’s hatred towards his victims for defending an open and democratic Europe built on the basis of values ​​of TOLERANCE AND DIVERSITY, which recognises  the dignity of the person and the universality of human rights . It was a singular massacre that is far from being an isolated or unique episode, since criminal acts of this nature and previous and subsequent attacks such as those that occurred in  Paris,  Madrid,  Orlando, Barcelona, ​​New Zealand, Buffalo, Nigeria… among others , show that criminal intolerance carried out by extremist, violent and totalitarian fanatics, based on the rejection of those who are different, is a persistent reality. In Spain, too, our lived reality confirms this tragic reality”.

A  tsunami of intolerance  threatens to return the world to times of persecution, murder, horrors such as the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity. The current wave of global anti-Semitism reminds us of that terrible tragedy experienced in the 1930s that ended the lives of more than 11 million people who were considered “worthless lives.”

To address this very serious problem, we require  Spanish institutions to create a Comprehensive Law against Hate Crimes and Universal Protection of Victims,  with the capacity to intervene effectively in all areas of our country and in all social and personal circumstances where it occurs in order to protect and support all victims, as prescribed by the  Spanish Constitution .

Any person or group who suffers a criminal offence for reasons relating to any manifestation, characteristic  or personal or social circumstance   of their human condition, regardless of whether such characteristic actually exists in the person who suffers harm or damage for that reason,  must be protected by this Law.

Meanwhile, to make all this possible, we call on citizens to carry out a  permanent campaign  until this is achieved and to promote  «in memoriam» actions  with city councils and institutions, associations, and companies, to illuminate our cities and towns with the BLUE color that illuminated solidarity with the victims of terrorism, school violence and others generated by criminal intolerance, under the motto:

TOLERANCE TURNS OFF HATE