A/HRC/41/55 6. The Special Rapporteur received alarming reports of xenophobic and anti-Semitic crimes perpetrated in Europe by groups promoting neo-Nazi and fascist ideologies. She also received reports of incidents glorifying past Nazi and fascist regimes in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Switzerland and Ukraine, including demonstrations, as well as the erection of monuments and renaming of streets glorifying former Nazi or fascist leaders. 7. The Special Rapporteur strongly condemns recent terrorist attacks and killings perpetrated against racial, ethnic and religious minorities around the world and in the name of “racial purity” and superiority, including the white supremacist, Islamophobic attack in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019, and the anti-Semitic attack in Pittsburgh, United States in 2018. III. Policies and initiatives recently adopted by Member States to combat neo-Nazi and related ideologies 8. States apply different restrictions to racist hate groups, such that the same conduct may be prohibited or permitted depending on the jurisdiction.6 These differences reflect a lack of uniformity of norms regarding protected speech and expression and prohibited hate speech and racial discrimination. 7 The Special Rapporteur has previously recalled the approach required in international human rights law, which recognizes a symbiotic relationship between freedom of expression and equality. 8 9. Some States have attempted to combat the rise and spread of neo-Nazi and related hate groups through legal measures targeting racist hate speech and propaganda that support supremacist ideology.9 Some have, commendably, adopted general legislation and national plans to combat racism and racial discrimination, which also apply to the glorification of neo-Nazism. 10 Others have created governmental institutions to monitor racism and related intolerance, including hate speech online. 11 10. The Radicalisation Awareness Network Centre of Excellence has noted that States have often overlooked far-right extremism in national prevention and counter-extremism strategies. 12 However, in Europe, neo-Nazi and related extremist violent attacks and manifestations have been on the rise since 2011,13 and the number of people arrested for right-wing extremist offences in 2017 was nearly double that of 2016. 14 In the United States, right-wing extremists perpetrated 71 per cent of the extremism-related fatalities between 2008 and 2017.15 11. Preventing neo-Nazi extremism remains complex and challenging because, unlike other forms of extremism, neo-Nazi and other white supremacist ideologies are politically and publicly tolerated in many regions. The Radicalisation Awareness Network Centre of Excellence has noted that in Europe, the main difference in status between neo-Naziinspired extremism and Islamist extremism is that the latter is “quite clearly and broadly 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Erik Bleich and Francesca Lambert, “Why are racist associations free in some States and banned in others? Evidence from 10 liberal democracies”, West European Politics, vol. 36, No. 1 (2013), pp. 130–135. Ibid., pp. 123. A/73/305 and Corr.1, para. 50. Submissions received from Argentina, Portugal, the Russian Federation and Sweden. Submissions received from Argentina, Italy, Portugal, and the Russian Federation. Submissions received from Argentina, Italy, Portugal and the Russian Federation. Nikki Sterkenburg, Yasmine Gssime and Marije Meines, “Local-level management of far-right extremism” (Radicalisation Awareness Network Centre of Excellence, January 2019), p. 2. See European Parliament resolution of 25 October 2018 on the rise of neo-fascist violence in Europe (2018/2869(RSP)), sections L to AD. European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2018, p. 51. Anti-Defamation League, “Murder and extremism in the United States in 2017”, p. 7. Available at www.adl.org/resources/reports/murder-and-extremism-in-the-united-states-in-2017. 3