Annual Report 2014 - Discrimination and the Roma community

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Positive developments in the field of anti-discrimination
On 15 December 2014 the Secretary of State for Secu-
rity, Francisco Martínez, chaired the inauguration of the
first Action Protocol for Police and Security Forces in
Cases of Hate Crime.
The Protocol is a document that systematically lists all
of the aspects that a police officer should be familiar
with and take into consideration when responding to a
hate crime. It covers issues ranging from what should
be included in the reports (such as polarisation factors)
so that judges and prosecutors know from the very
outset what they are dealing with, to how to appro-
priately attend to victims and the importance of main-
taining permanent contact with social representatives.
The Secretary of State for Security stressed that this
Protocol marked the first time that police forces were
provided with a tool to help identify and standardise
police practice.
Francisco Martínez stated that protection of society’s
most vulnerable and the fight against discrimination and
hate crime is a priority that the Ministry of the Interior
has been working on since the beginning of the legisla-
tive period and that this Protocol would serve to build
a long human chain of professionals from the media, po-
lice and security forces, NGOs and the society at large,
all coming together to help the victims of these crimes
to report them and in the early identification of hate
speech resulting in physical, psychological and verbal
violence.
This Protocol, together with the first report on the
evolution of hate crimes in Spain in 2013 drawn up by
the Secretariat of State for Security, has given visibility
to victims of this type of crime, has helped develop
more effective security policies to protect fundamental
rights and provides support to other ministries offering
assistance.
This Action Protocol for Police and Security Forces
provides an overview of all the conducts violating
criminal or administrative law and includes polarisation
indicators listing the evidence that must be compiled
and incorporated into police reports so that prosecu-
tors and judges have sufficient rational evidence of cri-
minality allowing them to issue indictments and, as the
case may be, convictions.
The so-called doctrine or culture of hatred is not only
spread through conferences or speeches made before
groups of people; many criminal groups use the Internet
and social networks for this purpose. That is why the
Ministry of the Interior included a specific section in the
action Protocol to pursue crimes committed using the
Internet.
The measures suggested by the Ministry of the Interior
to fight against this sort of criminal practice include a
special section of the Ministry of the Interior web page
web/servicios-al-ciu-
dadano/delitos-de-odio) that provides information and
support to victims, families, friends and others. Also, the
creation of the figure of the social interlocutor will con-
tribute to closer ties with the civil society and serve as
a communication bridge between the different stake-
holder groups. Brochures will be distributed in several
languages to transmit the basic information and raise
societal awareness.
Support for victims of hate crimes offered through
the Ministry of the Interior website includes basic in-
formation on what a hate crime actually is, why it must
be reported and other links of interest, supplemented
by information brochures to help identify and, where
appropriate, report these crimes to police and security
forces.
The action Protocol for police forces and web page
support will contribute to making victims more visible
and thus providing them with better services. These
two elements, together with greater emphasis on tra-
ining and awareness-raising among police and security
forces, will help increase the number of complaints filed
so as to more effectively fight this type of crime.
The drafting of the protocol, the web page and the
victim support brochure, together with the far-reaching
reform of the reporting and registering of incidents
linked to the Criminal Statistics System, puts Spain at
the vanguard of European countries in the fight aga-
inst this phenomenon as attested to in the most recent
report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental
Rights (FRA).
In summary, the aim of this Protocol and the web page
is to give greater visibility to victims, enhance training
and awareness-raising of police forces, improve care
2. Hate crime action protocol
for police and security forces