Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) published data on hatred crimes in individual countries, based on data provided by NGOs and police. The scale of force against Christians in Poland is akin – 79 crimes of this kind were recorded in 2024, 81 years earlier.
The number of attacks on Christians in Europe is increasing. In Poland, the police recorded only 1 hatred crime against Christians in 2024. No specified crime was recorded in France, with 139 reported by NGOs. Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights – ODIHR) published the report on the scale of hatred crimes in Europe.
Among another things, there are data on crimes committed against Christians. ODIHR is an entity operating within the Organisation for safety and Cooperation in Europe (Organisation for safety and Co-operation in Europe – OSCE), to supply support, assistance and expertise to the OSCE associate States and civilian society in promoting democracy, the regulation of law, human rights and tolerance and non-discrimination. ODIHR announced in April the start of collecting data for a hatred crime report.
The data collected in the study include information obtained from 2 sources – police reports and reports produced by NGOs. Therefore, the Ordo Iuris Institute submitted a study to the Organisation of safety and Cooperation in Europe on hatred crimes against Christians in Poland for 2024.
ODIHR indicates in the reportThat in 2024 the police reported 156 hatred crimes in Poland. This represents a crucial decrease compared to 2023, erstwhile 893 specified acts were found. Thus, there is simply a clear downward trend, as in 2022 the police registered as many as 1180 specified acts.
This difference is due to the fact that in 2023 508 "unspecified" hatred crimes were recorded, i.e. crimes which were not included in another categories and may include crimes related to alleged hatred speech which are not covered by the definition of hatred crimes adopted by the OSCE. This category did not appear in the data for 2024.
Among them, according to the police report, 1 hatred crime against Christians, 137 racial and xenophobia-motivated crimes, 3 anti-Semitic crimes, and 11 another crimes resulting from spiritual or non-Christian hatred were identified. On the another hand, data provided by NGOs show that in 2024 79 hatred crimes were committed in Poland, while 81 crimes were reported in 2023 and 82 in 2022 respectively.
Among these acts are the demolition of the Catholic cemetery, the demolition of Catholic chapels and churches. This includes, among others, smashing windows in churches, acts of vandalism in temples, demolition of spiritual statues, painting swastikas on objects of worship, arson of churches, anti-Catholic graffiti on the facade of temples, disturbing Mass by outsiders, beheading or arson of the cross. A large part of the events described was repetitive, meaning that they occurred much more than once.
Among another acts of aggression directed at Christians, mainly Catholics, ODIHR besides mentions disrupting the Catholic procession, attacks on persons defending places of worship, or attacks on a Christian actor who received death threats on social media after 1 of his tv shows took out the rosary and publically criticized Halloween as an anti-Christian holiday.
ODIHR complex data besides includes cases of direct attacks on Catholic clergymen. Among another things, a priest was described, who was repeatedly struck in the face and head in his parish, while being insulted. In addition, the individual who tried to intervene was besides struck in the face by the same perpetrator. As a result, the clergyman suffered head injuries and the intervener had a bruised and swollen eye.
According to the German Police, 21773 acts classified as hatred crimes occurred in Germany in 2024. This represents a crucial increase compared to 17007 specified acts recorded in 2023 and 11520 recorded in 2022.
Among them, 124 were motivated by hatred of Christians, indicating a decline against 277 recorded in 2023 and 135 in 2022. Most, due to the fact that 10038 crimes were to be motivated by racism and xenophobia, 2641 anti-Semitism, 1422 hatred of alleged LGBT people and 610 hatred of Muslims.
Among hatred crimes against Christians were recorded, among others, attacks involving the demolition of the crucifix and figures of angels in the chapel, acts of vandalism aimed at Christian temples, including even arson, or threats to the Protestant pastor, after he condemned the Hamas attack on Israel of October 2023.
Among another types of hatred crimes occurring in Germany, ODIHR mentions, among others, the demolition of memorial sites connected with Jews, synagogues or judaic cemeteries. There was besides an attack on a man and female talking in a Hebrew restaurant, by 2 men speaking Arabic. The Bureau besides notes incidents of Muslim character, including anti-Islamic graffiti on mosque walls.
The French police reported 6096 hatred crimes in a study submitted to the OSCE, which represents a slight drop in comparison with 6211 in 2023, but an increase in 2022 in which 3807 were recorded. Among them, only 2 types were identified – 3941 racial and xenophobic, the another 2155 – motivated by hatred of LGBT people.
This differs importantly from the data provided by NGOs, which show that 139 hatred crimes against Christians were recorded in 2024, 85 anti-Semitic crimes, and 103 motivated by racism and xenophobia.
Among the crimes against Christians are many acts of vandalism against Christian churches, another places of worship and cemeteries. A large number of acts of aggression have been reported, desecrated. Many reports classified as “hate crimes against Christians” come from Jehovah’s witnesses who reported acts of aggression against this group.
Among another events, ODIHR describes, among others, the arson of the synagogue door and 2 vehicles by an armed Algerian. During this incident, people praying in the building were attacked and wounded by a police officer. There was besides a beating and collective rape on a 12-year-old judaic girl.
Information on police statistic from Belgium and Finland may be drawn to the ODIHR's attention. In this first country, 597 acts were recorded as hatred crimes (2024 years), which represents a crucial decrease in relation to reported in 2023 1839 events, with 1682 specified incidents reported by the Police in 2022.
In Finland, in 2024, police registered 1413 incidents falling within the definition of hatred crimes, against 1361 incidents in 2023 and 1094 events in 2022. For Finland, therefore, there is simply a clear upward trend.
In the United States, in 2024, the police reported 13,683 hatred crimes, against 12,829, and 13,337 specified acts committed in 2023 and 2022 respectively.
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