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4.1.9 Summary/Conclusions
As the above analysis has shown, most Polish NGOs interviewed generally recognized hate crimes as a problem. Their understanding of the phenomenon of hate crime is embedded in the particular organization’s experiences and objectives, their community dynamics as well as the social and legal situation of certain minority groups in Polish society. Hate crimes are often understood in a broader context of discrimination, prejudice and xenophobia/intolerance. The latter has been assessed as a prevailing yet gradually changing (i.e. decreasing in some sectors of the society) phenomenon in Poland. Hate speech and attacks on property belonging to minority organizations, especially cemeteries and houses of prayer, are of particular concern to Polish organizations, as they seem to occur most frequently.
Even though there seems to be still no universal discursive framework for discussing hate crimes and intolerance or dealing with them productively, Polish NGOs are aware of the social and legal complexities of these issues in Poland and the changes needed to facilitate more effective civil society work to combat and prevent hatredbased ideologies and discrimination in general. Major barriers identified by Polish NGOs to providing systematic and long-term hate crime monitoring and victim assistance are: the socio-cultural and political climate of prevailing intolerance in some sectors of Polish society and in some media, general unwillingness to discuss these issues openly, public institutions’ lack of recognition of hate crimes, limited resources and local contacts or specialized profiles of the organizations themselves, as well as the victims’ reluctance to address these issues (e.g. avoidance of discussing hate crimes and mistrust of Polish public institutions and the police).
While the monitoring of hate crimes and victim assistance are not the primary focus of most organizations (except in occasional individualized efforts to keep track of incidents of victimization), four different approaches to organized methods of monitoring can be distinguished: 1) locally-based monitoring oriented towards public intervention in cases of attacks, discrimination or hate speech (often by informal grassroots anti-Fascist groups); 2) in-community monitoring based on information shared by members of particular ethnic or religious groups (e.g. Roma or Jews); 3) victimization surveys, such as research concerning sexual minorities; 4) a nation-wide network of volunteers monitoring local incidents and media in order to contribute to a comprehensive nation-wide database of hate crime cases (the Brown Book project).
In most cases, victim support is provided on an intermittent basis rather than in a systematic and long-term form. A crucial role, especially in the case of ethnic or immigrant minority groups, is played by an organization’s leaders or committed activists who can share their legal knowledge, cultural and linguistic competence, or contacts with legal and public institutions to provide aid to victims or potential victims of hate crimes. Another important aspect is local knowledge of sites of tensions and an organization’s ability to intervene or mediate within a local community. This also includes cooperation with the police to prevent the escalation of prejudice and to minimize the risk of further violent racist or xenophobic attacks. Three of the most advanced attempts at victim assistance have been observed in the examples of the Association of Roma in Poland (legal aid combined with local mediation to prevent further racist harassment), LGBT organizations (a specialized team of lawyers can possibly provide assistance within the framework of support groups), and a general effort embedded in anti-discrimination and empowerment work within the framework of crisis intervention (like the work of the Association for Crisis Intervention).
There is a widespread interest among NGOs in participating in hate crime monitoring and victim assistance (often under the umbrella of anti-discrimination and educational work) or in cooperating more extensively with other organizations on these issues. Most organizations are ready to share their experiences, intellectual resources, legal contacts or office infrastructure with NGOs or groups that operate under more restricted conditions. The most demanded forms of help that organizations helping victims require are: information and training on hate crimes and related issues, stronger political support, and a higher quality of work/ competence of public institutions or NGOs. Cultural and linguistic training is also needed in migrant/refugee communities.
(OPP)
