A/74/253
racial, religious and national hatred and propagate extreme ideologies, and to do
so in a manner that respects the human rights to freedom of expression and
speech. She also urges States to comply fully with their obligations as enshrined
in article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, and reiterates her encouragement to those States that
have made reservations to article 4 of the Convention to withdraw these
reservations and commit to its obligation to tackle hate speech and incitement to
violence.
60. With respect to expression in particular, she reiterates her recommendation
that Member States should implement the concrete recommendations that other
United Nations bodies, especially the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination, have made that pertain to combating racist and xenophobic
expression (A/73/305, para. 63). General recommendation No. 35 (2013) is
particularly vital in this regard. Owing to space constraints, its practical
guidance is not recapitulated here, but is instead incorporated by reference.
61. The Special Rapporteur would like to stress the importance of reliable
disaggregated data and statistics on racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic crimes.
The collection of data regarding the ideological affiliations of perpetrators, as
well as the identity of victims, in cases involving suspected or alleged hate crimes
is vital for understanding the prevalence of hate incidents and for designing
measures to combat them. Data are also vital for monitoring racist crimes and
assessing the impacts of measures taken to address such crimes. A lack of
consistent and reliable reporting on anti-Semitic violence and other hate
incidents is an issue in almost every country examined, and official statistics are
often much lower than those reported by non-governmental organizations, which
allow direct reporting on the Internet. The discrepancy in data and unreported
incidents reveals the need for more comprehensive, accessible, safe and
dependable networks for reporting anti-Semitic violence. Civil society must
continue and strengthen its role in collecting data and working with victims, who
may not feel safe reporting incidents to authorities.
62. The Special Rapporteur highlights the need to develop and implement
effective, inclusive and comprehensive frameworks complemented by other
means to combat racism. In this regard, collaboration with civil society and
international, regional and national human rights mechanisms can reinforce the
efforts to counter anti-Semitism and extremist movements and groups, including
neo-Nazis. In particular, civil society can play a vital role in collecting
information on racist crimes, working with victims and raising awareness. The
Special Rapporteur encourages robust coordination between governmental
structures and civil society entities to amplify efforts to develop and implement
relevant legislation and policies.
63. The World Jewish Congress has highlighted a number of good practices for
countering neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism established by various actors. The
first is incident-reporting hotlines. It reported that Germany, Hungary and New
York State have established incident-reporting hotlines that allow civilians to
report anti-Semitic activity. This practice is not exclusive to States: various
organizations and communities have also opted for this mechanism, including
the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, the Community Security Trust, the
Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism and the Anti-Defamation
League. As social media is one of the main sources of anti-Semitic activity, the
World Jewish Congress also highlighted the value of guidelines for combating
Holocaust denial online, referring to developments in the European Union,
Germany, France and Australia.
18/19
19-12969