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4.2.2.2 Other Organizations without an Exclusive Focus on Hate Crimes
We chose to focus on West Germany for this section because it has not had the support of programs like CIVITAS, which led to the development of specialized victim counseling organizations in East Germany. Nevertheless, while inquiring about NGOs in West Germany, we came across a number of NGOs that deal with problems of right-wing violence and related hate crimes. Most could either be characterized as educational organizations active in the prevention of violence and various training programs or as NGOs concentrating on discrimination issues. Although neither type of organization specializes in monitoring hate crimes or offers a broader range of programs and services, they still serve as important contact points and information centers with respect to bias-motivated offenses in their region or municipality.
Organizations Active in Supporting Individuals Wanting to Leavethe Right-wing Scene
In the northern region of Germany, we identified two NGOs active in the monitoring of right-wing extremism and violence. However, these organizations have made an additional contribution to the hate crime discussion by addressing the particularly difficult and vulnerable situation of »breakaways« (Aussteiger – individuals who have left the right-wing scene or are trying to distance themselves from it) and their family members.
In Lower Saxony the Office Against Right-wing Extremism and Violence (Arbeitsstelle Rechtsextremismus und Gewalt, ARuG) in Braunschweig argues that the concept of potential and real hate crime victims groups has to be expanded in order to include and support the right-wing youth’s parents, who often become targets of constant harassment and physical attacks when they try to help their children leave the right-wing milieu.
The Lidice House (LidiceHaus) in Bremen, a center for youth programs and intercultural education, cooperates with academic experts and other NGOs like AruG and the Association for Supporting Social Work that Accepts Youth (Verein zur Förderung akzeptierender Jugendarbeit e.V.) with the goal of setting up a regional network of specialized counseling teams for the relatives of right-wing oriented youths.
Organizations Defining Hate Crimes as Particular Severe Forms of Discrimination
We identified anti-discrimination offices in West Germany, run by NGOs, as another potential contact point for victims of right-wing activities or related violence. All five offices included in our interview sample stated that they have experience with rightwing and xenophobic assaults reported to them by the victims or the victims’ friends or relatives. Since their main focus is on ethnic and racial discrimination in the fields of employment, housing, education etc., as addressed in Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty and the new German anti-discrimination legislation, they do not operate with a clear-cut definition of hate crime, but rather assume that bias-motivated attacks are a specific violent and severe form of discrimination. When classifying different manifestations of discrimination, they usually distinguish between »disputed treatment,« damages to property, verbal hostilities and harassment, physical violence and other forms of discrimination. (12) It is remarkable that most of the antidiscrimination offices interviewed also reported a large number of complaints linked to cases of mistreatment and physical violence by representatives of government institutions, particularly the police.
Other Victim Support Organizations
General victim support organizations are another type of NGO in Germany that is often mentioned as a potential contact point for victims. We included two such organizations in our survey, Victim Support Hamburg (Opferhilfe Hamburg e.V.) and Victim Support Office (Opferhilfebüro Verden). Even though both NGOs stated that they are willing to assist victims of right-wing, xenophobic or homophobic assaults, they do not see the necessity in distinguishing between »normal« criminal offenses and hate crimes in their work. According to our interview partners, they have sufficient professional experience and knowledge to deal with all forms of traumatic experience, ranging from personal incidents, including domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape and stalking, to fortuitous events such as accidents and natural disasters.
12. The category »disputed treatment« is used for cases of perceived discrimination by public authorities and private firms that provide goods and services, in which a discriminatory cause for unequal treatment has not yet been positively determined, but no justification for a differential treatment is identifiable. AntiDiskriminierungsBüro (ADB) Köln; Öffentlichkeit gegen Gewalt e.V.; Caritasverband für die Stadt Köln e.V.; Antidiskriminierungsbüro/Interkulturelles Referat der Stadt Köln 2007. »Nein, das gibt‘s hier nicht«: Gemeinsamer Bericht der Träger der Antidiskriminierungsarbeit im »Drei-Säulen-Modell« in Köln 2006, Cologne.
(OPP)
