Читать книгу Xenophobia, radicalism and hate crime in Europe 2015 - Коллектив авторов, Ю. Д. Земенков, Koostaja: Ajakiri New Scientist - Страница 3

One of the most significant elements contributing to discriminatory trends in European legislation is the non-recognition of racial or religious hatred as an aggravating circumstance in a crime. Of the countries under review in 2015, four had lacked such a provision – France, Greece, Hungary, and Poland. Until recently, the German legal system had a similar deficit, where Article 46 of the Criminal Code left it to the discretion of the court.[1] However, on March 19, 2015, the Criminal Code had been updated to include Art. 46.2., according to which “hate motives” are to be considered during sentencing.[2] In Ukraine, criminal responsibility for a hate crime is linked to “direct intent”, which must be proved. In Italy, hate views only affect sentencing if the crime was committed with the aim of influencing the broader public in order to “change its behaviour”, which is also difficult to prove in court.[3]

A no less important discriminatory element in European legislation is the unequal legal treatment of specific religions. For example, Greek legislation allows for discrimination of non-traditional religions with Article 13(2) of the Constitution, which states that “all known religions shall be free and their rites of worship shall be performed unhindered and under the protection of the law.” Paragraph 3 of the same article has the same qualifier, which deals with “insulting Christianity or any other known religion.”

It is worth noting that Greece legally recognises only three religious organisations: The Greek Orthodox Church, Thracian Muslims, and the Jewish community. Other organisations that consider themselves religious are excluded from this status and thus cannot own property as legal religious bodies.[4]

Hungarian Law “On the right to freedom of conscience and faith, religion, church, and religious organisations” (2011) also created problems for new religious organisations that have not been present in the country for more than 20 years and who have less than 1000 followers permanently residing in Hungary.

German legislation also provides for inequality of some religious organisations, dividing them into “corporate bodies under public law” and others. Corporate bodies under public law have the right to collect their part of the Church Tax, which is derived from the taxable income by the regional financial body (Finanzamt) and given to the community. Other religious organisations are deprived of this status, which presumes that a religious community is guaranteed long-term existence by its statute and the number of followers. Currently, such status is applied to various Christian denominations, including Orthodox Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as the Jewish community, and the Union of Religious Communities that consists of several smaller communities and sects (predominantly Christian). Meanwhile, the Muslim community in Germany, which has more than 4 million members (almost 5 % of the population), does not fall under the status of a corporate body under public law, despite meeting all necessary conditions.

Similar issues can be observed in Italy. In this country religious communities that have not entered in a concordat (e.g. Muslims) with the government encounter various problems.

Ukraine amended its Law “On freedom of conscience and religious organisations” in 2012, making registration of religious organisations more difficult and providing various government bodies with the authority to monitor and control their activities (including Prosecution, Ministry of Culture, and other local and central bodies). 2012 amendments also introduced a procedure for conducting peaceful public religious events, which contradicts Article 39 of the Ukrainian Constitution.

It is worth mentioning the Law “On protecting religious feelings,” adopted by Russia in 2013.[5] The law is characterised by its vague wording, essentially opening up the possibility of prosecuting criticism or disrespectful portrayal of religious organisations in art. For example, the law introduces the concept of “public actions displaying clear disrespect towards a community and committed in order to insult religious feelings” (Article 148.1 of the Criminal Code)[6], but does not further expand on its meaning, which allows for misuse of the law, particularly towards atheists and members of “non-traditional” religions.

However, the most significant problems in European legislation are laws regulating inter-ethnic relations.

There are several countries in Europe that do not recognise the presence of ethnic minorities as such, which deprives them of corresponding rights that may differ from the regular human rights. Ethnicity and self-determination of minorities are excluded from the legal and political vocabulary in countries like France and Greece (excluding Western Thrace). The argument for this practice is that granting “special rights” to certain national minorities would escalate racism and inequality on ethnic grounds. Thus, France and Greece have been reluctant to join the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Meanwhile, de facto national minorities in France and Greece constitute for at least 10 % of their populations. Their presence is officially unrecognised, and therefore, their rights are not protected.

This problem exists in various shapes and forms in other monitored countries, except Russia, which has more than one hundred different nationalities. However, Russia adopted a completely different nation-state model, which it inherited from the Soviet Union as a state founded on an idea, rather than traditions of the titular nation.

Non-indigenous peoples – particularly immigrants – are affected by this the most. However, there also millions of citizens in Germany, for example, who were born in these countries, but not recognised as national minorities due to not identifying themselves as any of the 4 accepted ethnic groups. These are Turks, former Yugoslavians and people of Asian and African origins, who are excluded from the Framework Convention.

These factors indicate that the rights of most national minorities in Europe are not observed on a legislative level.