A/72/287 75. In Germany, the judiciary has contributed to a shift in the approach towards far-right violence. In the past, public authorities and the judiciary had failed to consider organized attacks against refugees, including bombi ngs and arson attacks against refugee shelters, as terrorism. The recent trial against the so -called Freital group was the first time that members of a right -wing extremist group have been tried for terrorism. 91 3. Collection of disaggregated data 76. The Special Rapporteur reiterates the importance of systematically recording, collecting and publishing disaggregated data on racial and xenophobic discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes. 92 He is pleased to note that some States have developed data collection systems on hate crimes, including crimes committed against individuals on the grounds of race, colour, ethnicity, origin or minority status, citizenship and religion. He was informed that some States collect data specifically on racist crimes committed by members of extremist groups. He welcomes these initiatives. He also highlights that, in the absence of official statistics in some States, national human rights institutions and non -governmental organizations play a central role in collecting disaggregated data on hate crimes. 93 In Greece, the Racist Violence Recording Network documents racist incidents and analyses the quantitative and qualitative trends relating to racist violence in the country. Stakeholders respect the principle of confidentialit y and incidents are reported to the network without any reference to personal data. 94 The Network also issues recommendations to the Government and assists relevant authorities with their implementation. While noting various gaps and areas of improvement, t he Network expressed general satisfaction over the Greek authorities’ response to its recommendations. For example, the Government followed recommendations to appoint special prosecutors on racist crimes in several cities — a good practice identified by the Network on the basis of the data that it had collected. 95 77. In the context of counter-terrorism, the Special Rapporteur recalls the importance of disaggregated data collection. Data enables States to assess the effectiveness of counter-terrorism legislation and policies and their impact on certain groups. It can, for example, detect laws or practices that focus disproportionate attention on racial and ethnic minorities on the basis of stereotypes linking them with crime and terrorism. On the basis of this knowledge, States can design targeted measures aimed at addressing the negative human rights implications of counter-terrorism measures. Data also allows the effectiveness of such interventions to be evaluated. Furthermore, data serves as a tool to incr ease transparency and accountability of actors with counter -terrorism powers. This is particularly important as many States have provided law -enforcement agencies and local authorities with extensive discretionary powers regarding identity checks, stops and searches and the use of administrative measures. Finally, data gives a voice and face to victims and therefore improves their access to justice and remedies. 78. The Special Rapporteur appreciates that some States systematically gather disaggregated data on law enforcement practices. In some countries, this has led to __________________ 91 92 93 94 95 17-13397 See Ben Knight, “Terror trial in Dresden for Freital neo -Nazi group”, Deutsche Welle, 6 March 2017. Available from https://perma.cc/4WGA-CYEE; European Civil War, “What is the ‘German right-wing terrorist’ ‘Freital Group’? And what can it teach us about processing resistance”, available from https://perma.cc/87M8-HCSN. See, in particular, A/70/335. A/HRC/26/50, para. 46. A/HRC/32/50/Add.1, paras. 35-38. Racist Violence Recording Network, “Annual report 2016”, pp. 17 -19. 19/23